System and Method for Managing Gift Credits

ABSTRACT

A system transfers money to a recipient&#39;s payment card account, without requiring an additional payment card or without acquiring a recipient&#39;s payment card or account information. A recipient registers a payment account with a service provider. A system receives an identification, generated from an entity such as a business or a person, of the recipient and information associated with an electronic notice to be transmitted to a device associated with the recipient. The system transmits the notice (advertisement or offer) to the device, the notice being associated with the recipient payment account and being transmitted prior to the recipient buying product or service associated with the notice using the recipient payment account. The notice can be associated with a network merchant category or network merchant ID for managing a gift credit identified in the notice. The system receives an indication of a purchase associated with the notice and completed using the recipient payment account and applies the gift credit.

PRIORITY

The present application is continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/335,358, filed Jul. 18, 2014, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/219,276, filed Mar.19, 2014, which is a continuation-in-part application claiming priorityto U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/193,068 (Attorney Docket080-0050-CON), filed 28 Feb. 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,751,392, issued10 Jun. 2014, which is a continuation of U.S. Non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 12/075,655 (Attorney Docket 080-0050), filed 13Mar. 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,676,704, issued 18 Mar. 2014, and to U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/475,122 (Attorney Docket080-0051), filed 29 May 2009, which claims priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication 61/057,106, filed May 29, 2008 (Attorney Docket080-0051-Prov), and to U.S. Non-provisional application 13/301,327(Attorney Docket 080-0100-CIP-8), filed 21 Nov. 2011, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No.12/967,253 (Attorney Docket 080-0100), filed 14 Dec. 2010, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,285,643, issued 9 Oct. 2012, and to U.S. Non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 13/754,401 (Attorney Docket 080-0100-CIP-12), filed30 Jan. 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 13/175,234, filed 1 Jul. 2011 (Attorney Docket No.080-0100-CON, which is a continuation of U.S. Non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 12/967,253, filed 14 Dec. 2010 (Docket No.080-0100), now U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,643, issued 9 Oct. 2012, and to U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/771,791 (Attorney Docket080-0100-CIP-14), filed 20 Feb. 2013, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/686,189, filed 27 Nov. 2012(Docket No. 080-0100-CON-7), which is a continuation of U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/470,969, filed 14 May 2012(Docket No. 080-0100-CON-6), which is a continuation of U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/967,253 (Attorney Docket080-0100), filed 14 Dec. 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,643, issued 9Oct. 2012, the contents of each of which are herein incorporated byreference in their entireties.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This continuation-in-part application claims priority to U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/193,068 (Attorney Docket080-0050-CON), filed 28 Feb. 2014, which is a continuation of U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/075,655 (Attorney Docket080-0050), filed 13 Mar. 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,676,704, issued 18Mar. 2014, and to U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/475,122(Attorney Docket 080-0051), filed 29 May 2009, which claims priority toU.S. Provisional Application 61/057,106, filed May 29, 2008 (AttorneyDocket 080-0051-Prov), and to U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No.13/301,327 (Attorney Docket 080-0100-CIP-8), filed 21 Nov. 2011, whichis a continuation-in-part of U.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No.12/967,253 (Attorney Docket 080-0100), filed 14 Dec. 2010, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,285,643, issued 9 Oct. 2012, and to U.S. Non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 13/754,401 (Attorney Docket 080-0100-CIP-12), filed30 Jan. 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 13/175,234, filed 1 Jul. 2011 (Attorney Docket No.080-0100-CON, which is a continuation of U.S. Non-provisionalapplication Ser. No. 12/967,253, filed 14 Dec. 2010 (Docket No.080-0100), now U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,643, issued 9 Oct. 2012, and to U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/771,791 (Attorney Docket080-0100-CIP-14), filed 20 Feb. 2013, which is a continuation-in-part ofU.S. Non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/686,189, filed 27 Nov. 2012(Docket No. 080-0100-CON-7), which is a continuation of U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 13/470,969, filed 14 May 2012(Docket No. 080-0100-CON-6), which is a continuation of U.S.Non-provisional application Ser. No. 12/967,253 (Attorney Docket080-0100), filed 14 Dec. 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,245,643, issued 9Oct. 2012, the contents of each of which are herein incorporated byreference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to gift credits and more specifically togift credits that are givern by an individual as a gift or by a companyas a gift or benefit and are redeemable without use of a physical giftcard, gift certificate, or electronic gift code but rather via the useof a gift credit recipients' existing credit/debit card or credit/debitcard number according to an established policy.

2. Introduction

Gift cards have been used for many years as a mechanism for individualsto give a certain amount of money to a recipient. One example platformthat illustrates the current variety of available gift cards isAmazon.com. At the Amazon.com website, a gift card link sends a giver ofa gift card to a mechanism in which the gift giver can purchase giftcards in a variety of forms. Examples include personalized physical giftcards that a gift giver can print and/or have mailed to a recipient.Amazon.com provides email gift cards in which the giver enters an amountand a quantity and recipient email address with a message. Theredemption process is only through Amazon.com or its affiliated websitewww.endless.com and the website deducts purchases from the gift cardbalance. They explain that they will place any unused balance in therecipient's gift card account when redeemed. They expressly state thatsuch gift cards cannot be reloaded, resold, transferred for value,redeemed for cash, or applied to any other account, except to the extentrequired by law. In some cases, even email gift cards from Amazon.comrequire various steps in order to redeem the gift cards. Amazon.comsends the recipient an email that requires the recipient to click on alink to a principal gift card. In some cases, Amazon.com sends a longgift code to the recipient that the recipient must input in a specialgift code field when making a purchase. These long codes can bedifficult to enter accurately because they are alphanumeric. Otherproblems can arise when using any kind of link or code or requiring theuser to perform any additional steps to redeem the gift card.

Amazon.com also offers a variety of gift cards from resellers such asHome Depot, Applebee's, P. F. Chang's, and so forth. These physical giftcards are mailed to the recipient and are for a specific amount. Similargift cards can be printed on a printer for similar use. However, anumber of problems exist with these different approaches to gift cards.For example, consider the case when a physical gift card for arestaurant such as P. F. Chang's for $50 is given and the recipient onlyspends $40 at P. F. Chang's. No easy mechanism exists for the recipientto know how much money is left on a particular gift card. Over timethroughout the country millions of dollars are left unused due to thisexcess money associated with gift cards. Additionally, money is leftunused when the recipient fails to keep track of gift cards or throwsthem away.

As noted in the Nov. 19, 2010, New York Times article “The MoreConvenient Gift Card”, found athttp://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/the-more-convenient-gift-card/,many solutions are being proposed for making “gift cards easier and moreconvenient to use”, including an iPhone based alternative to manage giftcards. However, the iPhone application requires recipients to uploadtheir gift cards by entering their gift card numbers such that retailerscan use the bar codes as shown on the iPhone. The problem of userslosing track of gift cards still exists. The article ends with thequestion “How do you make gift cards more convenient, so you don'tforget to use them or don't lose track of them?” This article succinctlysummarizes the current state of the art. The current approaches andimprovements to gift cards are helpful and make gift cards somewhateasier, but still require complicated steps. Current approaches do notsolve the fundamental problem of the recipient forgetting to use a giftcard or losing track of a gift card. A solution is required.

SUMMARY

Additional features and advantages of the disclosure will be set forthin the description that follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or can be learned by practice of the herein disclosedprinciples. The features and advantages of the disclosure can berealized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinationsparticularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and otherfeatures of the disclosure will become more fully apparent from thefollowing description and appended claims, or can be learned by thepractice of the principles set forth herein.

This disclosure provides solutions to several gift-related problems, butfocuses on systems, methods, and computer-readable storage devices forreceiving an identification of a gift giver, a gift, an amount of moneyto pay for the gift, and a gift recipient of the gift at a first time.The system can associate a policy with the gift, and initiate, at thefirst time, a transfer of at least part of the amount of money to payfor the gift from the giver payment account to a holding account that isseparate from the recipient payment account. The system can monitor,according to the policy, purchases of the gift recipient using therecipient payment account to yield purchasing information based on thepurchasing information, and determine whether the gift recipient hasmade a qualifying purchase according to the policy. If so, the systemcan apply the amount of money to pay for the gift from the holdingaccount to the recipient payment account.

This disclosure also addresses a first set of problems associated withretaining the social experience associated with giving and receiving agift. A system configured to practice a first example method embodimentreceives an object associated with a gift via a gift processingapplication, wherein a recipient of the gift received the gift from agift giver by purchasing the gift using a recipient payment account thatis independent of a giver payment account, and wherein both the giverpayment account and the recipient payment account existed when the giftgiver chose the gift recipient and the gift through the gift processingapplication. Then the system receives a tag associated with the object,and can transmit the object to the gift giver. The tag can be a date, atime, a location, a manually entered tag from the gift recipient, adescription of the gift, or a message, for example. The object can be,but is not limited to, an image, audio, a text-based message, or avideo. The object can be any digitally storable object for presentationto the gift giver and/or gift recipient. In one variation, after thegift recipient receives the gift, the system can receive anidentification of an amount of money and a merchant associated with theobject, and present the amount of money and the merchant information tothe giver such that the giver can make a purchase at the merchant usingthe giver payment account and have the amount of money applied to thepurchase. The recipient payment account and/or a merchant paymentaccount can provide the amount of money to be applied to the purchase.In a related embodiment, the system can store an image associated with agift via a gift processing application, wherein a recipient of the giftreceived the gift from a gift giver by purchasing the gift using arecipient payment account that is independent of a giver paymentaccount, and wherein both the giver payment account and the recipientpayment account existed when the gift giver chose the gift recipient andthe gift through the gift processing application, receive a tagassociated with the image, the tag identifying the gift giver, andreceive a picture of an item in the image after storing the image. Thenthe system can present an indication of the gift giver to the giftrecipient in response to receiving the picture.

The disclosure also addresses a second set of problems associated withmonitoring a recipient of a gift in-store to provide reminders,suggestions, or notifications regarding suggestions or redemption of thegift. A system configured to practice a second example method embodimentcan receive, via a face identification system at a merchant location, anidentification of a recipient of a gift which is redeemable at themerchant using a recipient payment account that is independent of andnot in control of a giver payment account, the gift having an associatedpolicy and stored within a gift processing system. Then the system cantransmit a reminder to the gift recipient via a recipient device thatthe gift recipient has the gift. The system can further transmit anadditional offer from the merchant in addition to the gift, such as acoupon, promotion, coupon code, discount voucher, and so forth. Theadditional offer from the merchant can be conditional upon one of thegift recipient making a redeeming purchase in a period of time and thegift recipient making a redeeming purchase prior to leaving the merchantlocation. The system can place other conditions on the additional offeras well. The system can further receive an indication of a purchase madeby the gift recipient using the recipient payment account at themerchant location.

The disclosure addresses a third set of problems associated withmanaging money contributed to a gift that is ultimately not redeemed orthat is under-redeemed so that no money is lost in the gift transaction.A system configured to practice a third example method embodiment cancreate a gift for a gift recipient, based on a request from a giftgiver, and notify the recipient of the gift. The gift can be redeemableat the merchant using a recipient payment account that is independent ofand not in control of a giver payment account, the gift having anassociated policy and stored within a gift processing system. If thegift recipient never redeems the gift using the recipient paymentaccount, then the giver is not charged for the gift and no transactionoccurs. Alternatively speaking, the giver payment account is chargedonly upon redemption of the gift using the recipient payment account. Toavoid accumulation of such outstanding charges, the gift can expireafter a certain period of time, such as after 2 years, after a certainnumber of notices to the gift recipient, and so forth. In the case ofthe gift giver closing the giver payment account, the organizationadministering the giver payment account can withhold sufficient funds tocover the eventual redemption of the gift for a certain period of time,after which the funds can revert to the gift giver, or can be applied tothe recipient payment account.

Three separate example embodiments are presented herein for enhancingelectronic delivery or redemption of gifts to provide a more immersiveexperience. In the first embodiment, a giver of a gift can use wearableor other ‘intimate’ electronic devices, such as smart glasses or awatch, to view sample electronic greeting or gift credits. One exampleof smart glasses includes Google Glass. As the gift giver views the giftor greeting card, the wearable electronic device can then show the giftgiver a video clip or present some other form of media that the giverwants to be displayed to the gift recipient when receiving the gift orgreeting card. The gift recipient can then also view the video clip orother media when the gift or greeting card is received, upon satisfyingsome trigger condition such as a geofence or a specific time of day,upon redemption, etc. In one embodiment, the recipient's wearableelectronic device can automatically present the video or other media tothe gift recipient, or a server can push the content to the recipient'swearable electronic device.

In a second embodiment, when a gift recipient of an electronic gift useshis or her wearable electronic device to view the product for which theelectronic gift was intended, the wearable electronic device can play amessage for the gift recipient. For example, the gift giver buys thegift recipient an electronic gift for a watch that is redeemable whenthe gift recipient simply purchases the watch via an associatedrecipient payment account. Once the gift recipient views the watch,enters the watch aisle at the store, views an advertisement for thewatch, or encounters some other trigger associated with the watch, asdetected by the wearable electronic device or an associated sensor orinput signal, the wearable electronic device can display to the giftrecipient a video clip or other media from the gift giver. The video orother media can be a recording of the gift giver or can be selected froma set of already recorded messages, for example.

In a third embodiment, when a gift recipient of an electronic giftenters the location of a merchant where the electronic gift isredeemable, a wearable electronic device can detect the location of thegift recipient. Based on the location coinciding with the merchant, thewearable electronic device can then play a media clip for the giftrecipient from the gift giver. For example, the gift giver buys the giftrecipient an electronic gift for the spa. The gift system associates thegift recipient and the recipient's payment account with the electronicgift. Then, once the gift recipient enters the spa, the wearableelectronic device, such as smart glasses, can initiate a video clip thatis attached to the electronic gift that the gift giver created.

These same concepts can be adapted for other electronic devices besidessmart glasses, such as smart phones, watches, implanted devices, and soforth. This approach can provide an augmented reality environmentsurrounding, supporting, describing, and notifying the gift recipient ofdetails of the electronic gift.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a moreparticular description of the principles briefly described above will berendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof that areillustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that these drawingsdepict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are nottherefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the principlesherein are described and explained with additional specificity anddetail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system embodiment;

FIG. 2A illustrates an example flow for processing a gift credit;

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary debit card processing architecture;

FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplary credit card processing architecture;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method embodiment for processing a giftcredit;

FIG. 4A illustrates a sample system configuration for processing giftcreditcredits;

FIG. 4B illustrates a sample system configuration for processing giftcreditcredits exclusively in an online retail environment;

FIG. 4C illustrates an exemplary packet structure for communicating vgift credit transactions with a server;

FIG. 5A illustrates an example login prompt in a process for sending agift creditcredit;

FIG. 5B illustrates an example gift credit configuration screen in aprocess for sending a gift credit;

FIG. 5C illustrates an example notification email to a recipient of agift credit;

FIG. 5D illustrates an example confirmation email to a recipient of agift credit that the gift credit was successfully applied to atransaction;

FIG. 5E illustrates an example reminder email to a recipient of anoutstanding balance on a gift credit;

FIG. 6 illustrates a sample flow for a releasing funds of a gift credit;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example management portal for received giftcredits;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example management portal for sent gift credits;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example interface for managing policies associatedwith gift credits;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary method for managing gift credits;

FIG. 11A illustrates a first exemplary user interface for addingpromotions to a gift credit;

FIG. 11B illustrates a second exemplary user interface for addingpromotions to a gift credit;

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary method embodiment for adding apromotion to a gift credit;

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary suggested recipient list of giftcredits in a social networking context;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example gift credit scheduler interface;

FIG. 15A illustrates an example interface for a group gift credit;

FIG. 15B illustrates an example architecture for interfacing betweenonline merchants, social networks, and banks;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example method embodiment for a group giftcredit;

FIG. 17A illustrates a sample gift credit interface integrated at a mainlevel of an online merchant;

FIG. 17B illustrates a sample gift credit interface integrated at ageneral category level of an online merchant;

FIG. 17C illustrates a sample gift credit interface integrated at aspecific category level of an online merchant;

FIG. 17D illustrates a sample gift credit interface integrated at anitem level of an online merchant;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example method embodiment for intelligentlypopulating and transitioning between what to offer a potential giftgiver as they navigate an online merchant site;

FIG. 19 illustrates an example system embodiment for providing apredictive list of gift credits and/or recipients;

FIG. 20 illustrates an view of the example website with the predictivegift credit widget expanded;

FIG. 21 illustrates a sample method embodiment for providing apredictive list of gift credits and/or recipients;

FIG. 22 illustrates an example system configuration for processing agift credit in connection with a club card;

FIG. 23 illustrates an example method embodiment for processing a giftcredit in connection with a club card;

FIG. 24 illustrates an example user interface for dynamic suggestionsfor and adjustments to a gift credit by the gift giver;

FIG. 25A illustrates a example user interface for a gift credit for anitem of an as yet unknown value;

FIG. 25B illustrates an example confirmation user interface for a giftcredit for an item of an as yet unknown value;

FIG. 26 illustrates a system and control flow for processing giftcredits for items with an as yet unknown value;

FIG. 27 illustrates an example method embodiment for processing giftcredits for items with a value not yet known;

FIG. 28 illustrates an example payment processing chain;

FIG. 29 illustrates a timeline for a “dinner and a movie” scenario;

FIG. 30 illustrates an exemplary user interface for requesting a reversegift credit;

FIG. 31 illustrates a method embodiment of managing a group paymentassociated with a payment transaction;

FIG. 32 illustrates an example method embodiment for sending an objectassociated with receiving a gift;

FIG. 33 illustrates an example method embodiment for sharing imagesassociated with a gift;

FIG. 34 illustrates an example method embodiment for face recognitionwith gifts;

FIG. 35A illustrates a first stage of an example user interface forgiving a gift credit;

FIG. 35B illustrates a second stage of an example user interface forgiving a gift credit;

FIG. 35C illustrates a third stage of an example user interface forgiving a gift credit;

FIG. 35D illustrates a fourth stage of an example user interface forgiving a gift credit;

FIG. 36 illustrates a method embodiment of a one-click gift offeringutilizing a recipient payment and delivery account;

FIG. 37 illustrates a system embodiment of a one-click gift creditoffering utilizing a recipient payment and delivery account;

FIG. 38 illustrates an example gift credit request using a one-clickgift offering utilizing a recipient payment and delivery account;

FIG. 39 illustrates an exemplary gift offering preview 3900 using aone-click gift offering utilizing a recipient payment and deliveryaccount;

FIG. 40 illustrates an exemplary offering from a gift giver to arecipient;

FIG. 41 illustrates a method embodiment of a one-click gift creditoffering utilizing a giver payment and delivery account;

FIG. 42 illustrates a system embodiment of a one-click gift creditoffering utilizing a giver payment and delivery account;

FIG. 43 illustrates an example user interface for a merchant portal;

FIG. 44 illustrates a user purchasing portal;

FIG. 45 illustrates a first method embodiment for group gifts;

FIG. 46 illustrates a second method embodiment for group gifts;

FIG. 47 illustrates a third method embodiment related to rewardsprograms;

FIG. 48 illustrates a fourth method embodiment related to giverpromotions;

FIG. 49 illustrates a fifth method embodiment related to commercialpayments;

FIG. 50 illustrates a sixth method embodiment related to a policy withmultiple redemption options;

FIG. 51 illustrates an example method embodiment for local productenhancements;

FIG. 52 illustrates an example method embodiment for handling networkbased fees or charges for processing a gift credit;

FIG. 53 illustrates an example system for providing a “child” based giftcredit;

FIG. 54 illustrates an example method embodiment of a “child” based giftcredit;

FIG. 55 illustrates an example embodiment related to an approach thatdoes not require coordinate with a card issuing company;

FIG. 56 illustrates an example method embodiment for managing groupsassociated with a group payment transaction;

FIG. 57 illustrates an example embodiment of smart glasses as part of animmersive gift environment; and

FIG. 58 illustrates an example system embodiment of an immersive giftenvironment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the disclosure are discussed in detail below.While specific implementations are discussed, it should be understoodthat this is done for illustration purposes only. A person skilled inthe relevant art will recognize that other components and configurationsmay be used without parting from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.Any particular function disclosed in connection with one embodiment oraspect can expressly be integrated into another disclosed embodiment,function or aspect. This disclosure considers mixing and matching of thevarious functions although particular functions are not specificallydiscussed in one example.

The present disclosure addresses the need in the art for removinghurdles in giving, redeeming, and processing gifts and particular togifts or gift credits that are given and redeemed without a physicalgift card or gift code.

The concepts disclosed herein represent an improvement to previousapproaches to providing gifts to gift recipients and which includes theconcepts related to individuals giving a gift credit to a giftrecipient, a business giving a gift credit or a discount credit to acustomer, or a group of merchants providing a promotion in connectionwith the gift credit. Patent eligible improvements under recent case lawdo not have to be hardware or computer network improvements per se. Thepresent disclosure describes improvements in the functioning of acomputer and relies on the mechanisms that enable a more simple andfocused user interaction with the system in order for a giver to give agift to a gift recipient. Furthermore, the overall components used toachieve the giving of the gift also include additional hardwarecomponents not previously utilized when giving gift cards. These caninclude such components as a recipient device that receives anelectronic notice linked to a recipient payment account, a monitoringsystem or processor that monitors recipient purchases, a serviceprovider that receives a registration of a recipient payment account,and so forth.

For example, the previous approach of giving gift cards included a giverbuying a physical gift card, which has an accompanying payment accountstored at a gift card payment account provider. The giver would simplyhand the gift card to the gift recipient who could then take the giftcard to the merchant and make a purchase. The only hardware associatedwith this process was the gift card payment account provider and thepayment processing hardware at a merchant location. The problems withthis approach have been previously articulated, such as the need toprint and create a physical gift card, the need to maintain a separategift card account, the possibility of losing the gift card and thus thegift, the benefit by the gift recipient, the extra room required in thewallet or purse to store the gift card, and so forth.

Disclosed herein are a variety of embodiments in which novels steps anda new configuration of hardware components are described that improvethe process of gift (credit) giving and receiving including a concept ofincorporating a merchant promotion into the process. As such, thedisclosure embodies an improvement in the technical field of paymentprocessing and includes a new set of hardware components that arerequired to achieve the improvement. In this regard, the claims doamount to the improvement to the functioning of a computer or a networkitself as well as a new physical structure implemented to achieve thegift giving process.

Many features described in the embodiments disclosed herein representcomputer components and payment accounts that were not previouslyutilized in the process of giving a gift card to a gift recipient. Assuch, the combined hardware components, and the combination of stepsdisclosed represent an improvement to computer related technology byallowing the computer performance of a function not previouslyperformable by a computer. The combination of components isunconventional in the gift card space and represents the new use of giftcredits.

The improvements disclosed herein can also include software-basedimprovements or a set of rules that compute that improve computerrelated technology by allowing the computer to perform a function notpreviously performable by a computer. Whether under a hardware standardor under a software standard, the present disclosure represents animprovement to computer related technology and addresses and solvesnumerous articulated deficiency was is within the prior art.

The overall process of gift giving as disclosed herein is not simply theapplication of conventional hardware. As has been noted above, theprevious gift giving process, which employed a physical gift card,merely required a payment gift card payment provider to store the giftcard account and whatever point-of-sale terminal would be required at amerchant to receive the physical gift card and process the payment.These two elements represent the conventional hardware that werepreviously required to process gift cards. The present solutionintroduces numerous new hardware components, which previously had nopart in the gift card process. The combined use, in various embodimentdisclosed herein, of a network service provider, a giver device, arecipient device, a monitoring service, a service provider, and/or otherhardware that receives a transmitted electronic notice would all beconsidered as not conventional hardware for giving and receiving giftcards.

As has been articulated above, there are problems with the previousapproach of giving and redeeming gift cards that does utilize the realmof computer networks. The improved solution combines a set of newhardware components and an organized set of steps which resolves theproblem of losing physical gift cards, expanding the size and weight ofwallets and purses, and the requirement of maintaining a separatephysical gift card payment account. Other improvements such as frauddetection improvement are also provided by the new method. These arereal world improvements to real world problems. The combination of thesevarious elements is not conventional or routine for managing the processof giving and redeeming gift credits. Indeed, the combination ofhardware components and steps that must be taken to manage this newprocess of using gift credits involves a specific and discreteimplementation of the process and does solve many of the identifiedproblems with the previous infrastructure for giving and redeeming giftcards.

A brief introductory description of a basic general-purpose system orcomputing device in FIG. 1 that can be employed to practice the conceptsis disclosed herein. A more detailed description will then follow of thevarious credit/debit processing infrastructure, the exemplary methods,and other financial processing infrastructure and concepts inconjunction with gift credits that are redeemed using an existingpayment mechanism transparently, that is, without any additionalphysical gift card, gift certificate or any gift code. A recipient of agift credit can simply purchase a qualifying good or service with herVisa card, for example, and the payment processing infrastructureassociated with the Visa card applies the gift credit amountautomatically to the transaction. This disclosure involves more thanjust a direct transfer of money from one person to another, or from agift card to a credit card account, but rather focuses on a gift cardapproach in which a gift card is established at a first time having apolicy, and a gift recipient, at a second time that is later than thefirst time, executes a purchasing transaction according to the policy.When that transaction is detected, the system will implement the policyand apply the gift card funds at a third time which is later than thefirst time, and can be approximately around the second time or laterthan the second time. The implementation and use of such a policy toguide/manage gift card payment through a recipient's use of an existingaccount introduces many novel features that are disclosed herein.

The policy can include at least one of: a class of goods or services, anamount of money, a merchant or group of merchants, a ceiling amount ofmoney to be used in the gift card, a time frame for use of the giftcard, one or more recipient accounts that when used can trigger thetransfer of money from the giver account to the one or more recipientaccounts, and a predetermined period of time in which if all the amountof money associated with the gift card is not used according to thepolicy, a remainder amount of money is transferred from the giveraccount to the recipient account.

A new result of this approach is to render a recipient open-loopcredit/debit card account into a hybrid open-loop/closed-loop account.The system monitors the activity of the account such, that for averagepurchase, the account is open-loop and not restricted, but theapplication of the gift card to specific purchases according the policyis considered closed loop.

For the sake of clarity, the methods herein are discussed in terms of anexemplary system 100 as shown in FIG. 1 configured to practice themethod. The steps of each method outlined herein are exemplary and canbe implemented in any combination and/or permutation thereof, includingcombinations that exclude, add, or modify certain steps. These and othervariations are discussed herein as the various embodiments are setforth. The disclosure now turns to FIG. 1.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system 100 includes ageneral-purpose computing device 100, including a processing unit (CPUor processor) 120 and a system bus 110 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 130 such as read only memory(ROM) 140 and random access memory (RAM) 150 to the processor 120. Thesystem 100 can include a cache of high-speed memory connected directlywith, in close proximity to, or integrated as part of the processor 120.The system 100 copies data from the memory 130 and/or the storage device160 to the cache for quick access by the processor 120. In this way, thecache provides a performance boost that avoids processor 120 delayswhile waiting for data. These and other modules can control or beconfigured to control the processor 120 to perform various actions.Other system memory 130 may be available for use as well. The memory 130can include multiple different types of memory with differentperformance characteristics. It can be appreciated that the disclosuremay operate on a computing device 100 with more than one processor 120or on a group or cluster of computing devices networked together toprovide greater processing capability. The processor 120 can include anygeneral purpose processor and a hardware module or software module, suchas module 1 162, module 2 164, and module 3 166 stored in storage device160, configured to control the processor 120 as well as aspecial-purpose processor where software instructions are incorporatedinto the actual processor design. The processor 120 may essentially be acompletely self-contained computing system, containing multiple cores orprocessors, a bus, memory controller, cache, etc. A multi-core processormay be symmetric or asymmetric.

The system bus 110 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basicinput/output (BIOS) stored in ROM 140 or the like, may provide the basicroutine that helps to transfer information between elements within thecomputing device 100, such as during start-up. The computing device 100further includes storage devices 160 such as a hard disk drive, amagnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive or the like. Thestorage device 160 can include software modules 162, 164, 166 forcontrolling the processor 120. Other hardware or software modules arecontemplated. The storage device 160 is connected to the system bus 110by a drive interface. The drives and the associated computer readablestorage media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputing device 100. In one aspect, a hardware module that performs aparticular function includes the software component stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium in connection with the necessaryhardware components, such as the processor 120, bus 110, display 170,and so forth, to carry out the function. The basic components are knownto those of skill in the art and appropriate variations are contemplateddepending on the type of device, such as whether the device 100 is asmall, handheld computing device, a desktop computer, or a computerserver.

Although the exemplary embodiment described herein employs hard disk160, those skilled in the art should appreciate that other types ofcomputer readable media which can store data that are accessible by acomputer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digitalversatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (RAMs) 150, readonly memory (ROM) 140, a cable or wireless signal containing a bitstream and the like, may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media expresslyexclude media such as energy, carrier signals, electromagnetic waves,and signals per se.

To enable user interaction with the computing device 100, an inputdevice 190 represents any number of input mechanisms, such as amicrophone for speech, a touch-sensitive screen for gesture or graphicalinput, keyboard, mouse, motion input, speech and so forth. An outputdevice 170 can also be one or more of a number of output mechanismsknown to those of skill in the art. In some instances, multimodalsystems enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicatewith the computing device 100. The communications interface 180generally governs and manages the user input and system output. There isno restriction on operating on any particular hardware arrangement andtherefore the basic features here may easily be substituted for improvedhardware or firmware arrangements as they are developed.

For clarity of explanation, the illustrative system embodiment ispresented as including individual functional blocks including functionalblocks labeled as a “processor” or processor 120. The functions theseblocks represent may be provided through the use of either shared ordedicated hardware, including, but not limited to, hardware capable ofexecuting software and hardware, such as a processor 120, that ispurpose-built to operate as an equivalent to software executing on ageneral purpose processor. For example, the functions of one or moreprocessors presented in FIG. 1 may be provided by a single sharedprocessor or multiple processors. (Use of the term “processor” shouldnot be construed to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executingsoftware.) Illustrative embodiments may include microprocessor and/ordigital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) 140 forstoring software performing the operations discussed below, and randomaccess memory (RAM) 150 for storing results. Very large scaleintegration (VLSI) hardware embodiments, as well as custom VLSIcircuitry in combination with a general-purpose DSP circuit, may also beprovided.

The logical operations of the various embodiments are implemented as:(1) a sequence of computer-implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a programmable circuit within a general use computer, (2) asequence of computer-implemented steps, operations, or proceduresrunning on a specific-use programmable circuit; and/or (3)interconnected machine modules or program engines within theprogrammable circuits. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 can practice allor part of the recited methods, can be a part of the recited systems,and/or can operate according to instructions in the recitednon-transitory computer-readable storage media. Such logical operationscan be implemented as modules configured to control the processor 120 toperform particular functions according to the programming of the module.For example, FIG. 1 illustrates three modules Mod1 162, Mod2 164 andMod3 166 which are modules configured to control the processor 120.These modules may be stored on the storage device 160 and loaded intoRAM 150 or memory 130 at runtime or may be stored as would be known inthe art in other computer-readable memory locations.

The term “system” or similar terms also apply to the herein disclosedsystems for processing various types of transactions. There aredifferences in systems for processing credit card and debit cardtransactions. It is assumed that with the policies and processingdisclosed herein, that appropriate adaptations are made for specificsystems where necessary. Those of skill in the art will understand thehardware components used for accomplishing such transactions.

Gift Credits

Having disclosed some components of a computing system, the disclosurenow turns to FIG. 2A, which illustrates an example flow 200 of the basicapproach disclosed herein for processing a gift credit. The embodimentsdisclosed herein are discussed in terms of an exemplary system 100 orcomputing device as shown in FIG. 1 configured to practice the variousembodiments. A more specific exemplary system for implementing this flow200 is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 4 with respect to a controlengine that manages the redemption and processing of each gift cardaccording to its policy via communications and instructions with variousaccounts and/or merchants accounts. Feature 202 represents a giverinterface. An example will be used to step through the various blocks.Assume that a giver desires to give a $50 gift credit to a giftrecipient. The interface 202 enables the giver to either inputidentification information and recipient account information or have itprepopulated based on a previous login. The interface 202 can be a webinterface, a software client interface, a point of sale interface that astore employee uses on behalf of a gift giver, a self-service kiosk, avoice-based interface, an interface via a handheld device, a multi-modalinterface, speech interface, or any other suitable interface. The system100 identifies, via the gift giver selection, a predictive approach, orsome other approach, a gift recipient such as a mother, sister, orfriend of the gift giver, etc., and an amount that the giver desires togive to the gift recipient. The recipient credit/debit card data/accountis identified via a secure communication to a database or inserted bythe gift giver or recipient if necessary or possible. Through one ormore different methods, the giver account and recipient account areidentified.

The system can apply at least part of the amount to the transaction in avariety of ways. FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary debit card processingarchitecture 214. For example, assume the gift recipient 216 uses adebit card 218 for the qualifying transaction. In the debit cardprocessing infrastructure 214, the gift recipient 216 presents the debitcard 218 to a merchant 220 at a point of sale. The merchant 220 or giftrecipient 216 swipes the debit card 218 through a scanner or otherwiseobtains the debit card number, such as by entering the number into acomputing device. The merchant system contacts the financial institution224 indicated by the debit card number, either directly or through adebit card processing center 222. The financial institution 224 verifiesthat funds are available in the recipient account 226 and approves thetransaction by immediately (or nearly immediately) withdrawing fundsfrom the recipient account 226 and transferring the funds to themerchant 220. In this debit card processing infrastructure 214, if thedebit card account only has $20 in the account (and the purchase was for$40), then the policy/control entity 228 can dictate to apply at leastpart of the gift card amount to the transaction. The system identifiesthat the gift recipient wants to use the debit card for a $40transaction, whereas they only have $20 in their account, the system cancredit $20 to the recipient account 226 from the giver account 230 priorto completing the transaction, at which point the debit card can be usedto complete the transaction. If the recipient account 226 has sufficientfunds, then the system can process the qualifying transaction in anormal fashion, and then credit the recipient account 226 theappropriate amount of $40 from the giver account 230 after thetransaction with the merchant is completed.

FIG. 2C illustrates an exemplary credit card processing infrastructure232 in which the system can credit the recipient account at the time ofsale or shortly thereafter. In a credit card processing infrastructure232, the issuer 236 of the credit card 217 lends money to the giftrecipient 216 to be paid to a merchant 220. In most cases, the merchant220 and/or the gift recipient 216 swipes the credit card 217 through amachine known as reader. If the card issuer 236 approves thetransaction, an acquiring bank 238, which receives credit cardtransactions from the merchant 220, then credits the merchant's account242. A credit card association (not shown) may also be involved to setthe terms of transactions for merchants, card-issuing banks andacquiring banks. The merchant 220 can pay the acquiring bank 238 a feefor processing the transaction. Once approved, the card issuer 236 poststhe transaction to the recipient's account 226. At the end of thebilling period, the cardholder 216 receives a credit card statement fromthe issuer 236, at which time payment for the transaction is due. Inthis credit card processing infrastructure 232, the system can creditthe recipient account 226 when a bill is due, such as a monthly creditcard bill, shortly before or on the due date. In this way, the systemcan hold on to the money, potentially earning interest on the moneyuntil the last minute it is needed to satisfy the gift card transaction.This floating period can be one source of revenue to fund the gift cardsystem infrastructure and/or to provide a profit to the operators of thegift card system infrastructure. Also shown in FIG. 2C is apolicy/control entity 228 and the giver account 230 which are used tocommunicate with, monitor and manage the gift card transactionsaccording the principles and concepts disclosed herein.

Often recipients will have multiple gift cards with varying amounts thatthey lose track of or have little incentive to redeem. These approachesprovide a new result of reducing the barriers to obtaining a greaterbenefit from a gift card with far less effort on the part of the giftrecipient and/or the gift giver.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method embodiment for processing a giftcredit. The method may be practiced by an individual computing device ora computing device in communication with other computing devices withina network. One or more of the various computing devices can reside in amerchant bank, an acquiring bank, a giver account, a recipient account,a merchant, credit card association, a policy control entity or engine,and so forth. The system receives an identification of a gift giver of agift card and a recipient of the gift card at a first time (302). Thesystem identifies a giver account and a recipient account for managingthe transfer of the amount of money or a gift credit from the giveraccount to the recipient account (304) or to a merchant bank accordingto a policy. The recipient account can exist prior to the first time andcan be an open-loop payment mechanism that is not restricted to aparticular merchant or shopping portal, such as a credit/debit card orchecking account. An optional notice is sent to the recipient associatedwith the transfer of the amount of money to the recipient (306). Thesystem receives information that the recipient has made a qualifyingtransaction using their existing recipient account (308), thetransaction occurring at a second time which is later than the firsttime. The system then applies at least part of the amount of money tothe qualifying transaction (310) in a manner according to whether thetransaction is a credit or debit transaction for both the gift giver andthe recipient. The system can apply the amount of money to the purchaseto yield a remaining amount of money. An optional feature is the systemproviding a notification to the gift giver and/or the recipient (312).The gift credit may be held in the giver account until after thequalified purchase is made, and then the gift credit is transferred tothe recipient account, the merchant or other location.

The recipient of the gift credit can, in some circumstances, manage,change, or remove a policy associated with a gift credit. The system canreceive a request from the recipient to use the amount of money or giftcredit to make the purchase outside the purchase condition, deduct apenalty from the amount of money according to the purchase condition toyield a reduced amount of money, and apply the reduced amount of moneyto the purchase in a manner associated with the recipient payment mode.As can be appreciated, the processing system disclosed herein providesmuch greater flexibility and possibilities when processing gift cards.

Gift Credit Processing Infrastructure

FIG. 4A illustrates an example block diagram 400 of a network 416 inwhich the system can operate. Network 416 includes various componentsthat make the processing disclosed herein possible. A giver interface402 is used in a variety of ways to receive initial information aboutthe gift giver. For example, the giver interface 402 can simply be a website accessible via a web browser in which there is an opportunity forthe gift giver to provide the basic information to identify the giftrecipient, the amount associated with the gift credit and so forth. Thegiver interface 402 can be a device such as kiosk, ATM machine, or gaspump.

A giver interface 402 can include a website in which a gift giver typesinto a web interface a particular gift code that may or may not beassociated with a physical gift card. The system can receive thisinformation to identify an amount, the gift giver, and the company towhich the gift card applies. Then the gift giver can also add theirinformation as the gift recipient and therefore provide the necessaryinformation via the giver interface for the remaining transactions tooccur under the processes defined herein. In this manner, any recipientof a physical gift card can easily transfer that gift card to the giftcredit system disclosed herein. The gift recipient no longer has toworry about losing the gift card or forgetting to use all the money onthe gift card.

The disclosure temporarily turns to FIG. 4C, which illustrates anexample packet 406 as is introduced in FIG. 4A. FIG. 4C shows packet 406with various data fields. The exact names, types, sizes, and order ofdata fields in the packet are exemplary. The packet can be implementedin any variation thereof, including any combination or permutation ofthese and/or other data elements. These example fields include asecurity header 472, a general header 474, information about the giftgiver 476, information about the gift recipient 478, a currency amount480, a payment mode 482, a time associated with the gift credit 484, alocation or geographic limitation associated with the gift credit 486and another optional field 488 or fields. The amount can be in anycurrency: domestic, foreign or virtual. The system can automaticallyhandle conversion between currencies, if needed. Some of the packetfields shown are optional. The use of such a packet enables a centralcontrol engine 404 to receive a single set of data associated with agift card and carry out all of the transactions associated withmonitoring recipient purchasing activities, apply gift card money asguided by the policy, and credit or debit money from the appropriateaccounts.

The packet structure can allow for the information about the gift giver476 and the information about the gift recipient 478 to identify morethan one individual. The packet can include information about each giver476 and gift recipient 478 in the form of, for example, an emailaddress, name, account number, or other unique identifier. Further, inthe case of multiple givers, the amount field 480 can include one ormore sub-amounts corresponding to each gift giver. The payment mode 482can be identified by credit card number, bank account number, routingnumber, club or loyalty card number, PayPal address, and so forth. Inone case, the payment mode can be a user profile such that any paymentmode associated with that user profile is able to use the gift credit.

Based at least in part on data received from the giver interface 402,the system can develop a packet 406 as discussed above and shown in FIG.9. The packet 406 includes the basic information to manage, create,trigger, or perform other actions associated with the gift credit andoptionally the additional information. At a basic level, the packet 406provides information about the gift giver, the gift recipient, theamount, and other management information about how the amount is to beapplied. The packet can identify whether the giver account and recipientaccount are credit or debit accounts. The network 416 receives thispacket at a control engine 404. This can represent a computing device,acquiring bank, debit card bank, issuing bank, and/or server within thenetwork 416 that can manage the policy of distribution, use, and/ornotifications associated with the gift credit. The control engine 404can be part of or in communication with an acquiring bank. Network 416can be the Internet, an intranet, a virtual private network, anencrypted network, electronic or fiber-optic network, and/or any otherkind of network that can include a wireline or wireless network.Therefore, the giver interface 402 can also be a wireless interface viaa wireless device with the appropriate software to enable communicationof such information.

The control engine 404 communicates with the giver account 408 and arecipient account 410 and optionally with a third party account 412and/or a merchant or bank 414. The control engine 404 can communicatewith or operate on any one or more of these systems. For example, thethird-party account 412 does not necessarily need to be involved in eachtransaction. Furthermore, the control engine 404 can optionallycommunicate directly with the merchant or bank 414.

FIG. 4B illustrates a second example block diagram 450 of anarchitecture 450 in which the system can operate. The architecture 450represents a model operated by an online merchant such as Amazon.com.For purposes of illustration, Amazon is used herein to represent ageneric online merchant in which the data about the gift giver and giftrecipient are stored or received via a user interaction to process agift card as disclosed herein. A gift giver of a gift creditcommunicates with the control engine 456 through a network 454 via auser interface 452.

The gift giver provides instructions to the control engine 456 throughthe user interface 452 to send a gift credit to the gift recipient. Thegift giver can provide partial information to the control engine 456 toidentify the gift recipient, such as an email address, username or afirst name, last name, and mailing address. The control engine 456 andthe user interface 452 can provide the giver a way to select which typesof information to provide. As the gift giver enters information, thecontrol engine 456 and the user interface 452 can also provide feedbackto the giver regarding the entered information.

Because the control engine 456 controls the gift card implementationbased on policies, handles the transactions, and controls (at leastindirectly) giver and/or recipient payment accounts, the control engine404 and the merchant or bank 414 of FIG. 4A are effectively merged intoone entity in FIG. 4B. As part of the process of creating a gift card,the control engine 456 can withdraw funds from the giver account 458 andplace them in a third-party account 462 until the recipient redeems oruses the gift card. Alternatively, the control engine 456 places a holdon the gift card amount in the giver account 458 until the gift card isredeemed. The hold can be a reservation of available credit on the giveraccount, which is charged when the gift recipient redeems the gift card.The control engine 456 can implement other fund processing variations aswell. In one aspect, the user accounts 458, 460 at Amazon are proxiesfor actual bank accounts such that Amazon can deposit, withdraw, hold,and perform other operations on funds in the actual bank accounts. Thecontrol engine 456 generates a gift credit associated with the recipientaccount 460.

Gift Card User Interfaces

The disclosure now turns to some example user interfaces, as shown inFIGS. 5A-5E. FIG. 5A illustrates a basic log in screen 500 where thegift giver enters credentials before entering into a giver interface tobegin a gift card transaction. This provides basic information such asgift giver or recipient name 502 and a password 504, but can incorporateother authentication techniques, such as speaker verification, biometricidentification, swiping a credit card (or other identification card)through a card reader, personal confirmation such as recipient highschool, pet name, and so forth.

FIG. 5B assumes that the gift giver has logged in and the giver's nameis “George”. Here, screen 506 illustrates a welcome screen for George,optionally including a greeting 508, and presents various specificoptions to George for giving a gift credit. The recipient list can beprepopulated based on previous gift cards or preentered names andinformation associated with various people that would receive a giftcard from George. This can be presented in drop down menu 510 or viasome other user interface component. The gift giver fills in an amountfield 512 or selects from a list of amounts from a drop down menu orother graphical or multimodal manner. The drop down menu can beprepopulated with a list of previous amounts given to this particularrecipient, common amounts given, or suggested amounts based on theselected merchant, and so forth. Another field 514 provides a drop downmenu (or other graphical or multimodal mechanism) of merchants. The giftgiver can enter other conditions 516 associated with the gift card basedon a variety of factors.

FIG. 5C illustrates an example notification email 518 which explains tothe gift recipient 520, Rachel, that says, “George has sent you a giftcard for Home Depot for $75. You can use the gift card by simply usingyour Visa card at Home Depot or at homedepot.com”. The email can includea CC to the gift giver 522, in this case george@email.com. Thenotification is optional and can be provided via other communicationmodalities as well, such as voicemail, Facebook communication, tweet,SMS, personal call, a mailed letter or postcard, and so forth. Thenotification can include other instructions as well. FIG. 5D illustratesan email 526 that the system can optionally send to Rachel after shemakes a purchase using her credit/debit card. The message 528 caninclude various gift details, as shown. FIG. 5E illustrates an exemplaryoptional reminder communication 536 from the gift credit services to therecipient, Rachel.

FIG. 6 illustrates a series of steps 600 associated with the managementof gift card funds. Step 602 includes selecting a policy for a giftcard. This can occur via a default mode or a user selected mode toestablish a certain policy or schedule for the distribution and use ofthe gift credit. The system includes a trigger associated with the useof the funds in step 604. The trigger can be an actual transaction usingthe credit/debit card in which the funds have to now be applied andreleased for a transaction. The last step involves releasing or applyingthe funds 606 to a transaction which, as noted above, can either bereleasing or using those funds for a particular purchase or can involvetransferring those funds directly to the recipient account or to someother location. Then the policy can include a series of triggers thatcause the system to apply funds according to the policy.

Gift Credit Management Portals

The disclosure turns to a discussion of management interfaces for giftcredits. FIG. 7 illustrates an example portal 700 in which users,including gift givers and recipients, can manage their various giftcards. A network-based server and/or a local server can provide theportal 700 in which the gift recipient receives a number of differentgift credits. The prior art approach for dealing with such gift cards isto simply carry physical cards around in one's wallet or store them athome or elsewhere. The remaining amount on those particular gift cardsis easily forgotten and not always easy to retrieve. This ultimatelyleads to wasted funds or the funds can revert to the merchant throughfees or inactivity. It is almost impossible for the recipient of thegift card to remember how much money remains on the cards, especially ifmultiple gift cards are received at the same time. Accordingly, usingthe system disclosed herein, a recipient can manage, identify, and viewa variety of gift cards all in one location. Portal 700 illustrates allof the gift cards for one recipient or for one payment mode (such as achecking account, Visa credit card, or PayPal account). Information 702,704, and 708 identify various gifts from George to Rachel.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example portal 800 for use by a gift giver. Bothportals 700, 800 can be integrated into a same web interface so that agift giver can manage all received and sent gift cards in one location,but the portals 700, 800 can also be completely separate. Just as areceiving party can have a portal as shown in FIG. 7 to identify all ofthe received cards, a portal 800 can be presented for those who sendgift cards. Here, information such as found in rows 802, 804, 806 and808 can identify the date a gift card was sent, the gift recipient, theamount, the merchant, the current status, and additional optionalactions which can be taken, such as send a message, send a reminder orsuggestion, or any other additional communication option for the giverto communicate with the gift recipient.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example interface for managing policies associatedwith sent and/or received gift credits. In the interface 800 of FIG. 8,the gift giver can click on the row 802 for Tom Jones to expand a list902 of available and/or applicable policies. The list can be acompilation of different policies from different sources or a singlepolicy encompassing each presented aspect.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary method for managing gift credits. Asystem configured to practice the method identifies a user, which can bea gift giver and/or recipient of a gift card (1002) and retrieves a listof pending gift cards associated with the user, wherein each gift cardin the list is associated with a payment mode of the user such that uponthe recipient using a recipient payment mode to make a purchase, anamount of money (the gift credit) associated with one of the pendinggift cards is applied to the purchase (1004). The system retrievescurrent status information for the list of pending gift cards (1006).The system presents at least part of the list of pending gift cards tothe user (1008). Users can access this information via a gift creditmanagement portal such as a web site, smart phone application, automatedspeech interface, and so forth.

Gift Credit Promotions

The disclosure now turns to a discussion of adding promotions to a giftcredit. FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate interfaces for a gift giver to addpromotions during a creation event of a gift credit, but a giftrecipient can also view and accept promotional offers when the card isreceived, when managing a received card, when redeeming a received giftcredit, when reviewing remaining amounts, and/or at any other suitabletime. FIG. 11A illustrates a window 1100 for additional accessorizing,including promotions, or upselling of the gift credit. The gift giver,George, wants to give $50 to Rachel for use at the Sizzler restaurant.The system can identify different available promotions to “accessorize”the gift credit. Here, one promo 1102 is from American Express. A giftgiver can select the promo 1102 with a checkbox or other input torequire Rachel to pay via American Express and thus get an extra $5added to the gift card amount. Promo 1104 indicates that if Rachel usesthe gift card on a weekday that he would get a free dessert. That boxcan be checked as a promotion by Sizzler in order to drive therecipient's behavior to come to the restaurant as a certain time,perhaps when business is normally slow.

FIG. 11B presents a potential widget 1106 in which the system hasidentified the gift giver as George, the recipient as Rachel, and themerchant as Olive Garden. The system has identified that Racheltypically uses, has used, or is eligible to use one of two paymentmechanisms for purchases at Olive Garden: a Visa and a MasterCard. Theopportunity 1108 presented to George in FIG. 11B enables George tochoose between the Visa and the MasterCard. As is shown in the widget,Visa is offering an additional $2 to the gift credit and MasterCard isoffering an additional $1 to the gift credit. The Olive Garden can offeran extra $10 if it is limited to lunchtime on Saturdays. This presentsan opportunity for the credit card issuers to upsell or encourage thegift giver to select a particular card for redemption of the giftcredit. The gift giver, George, can click the send button to completethe transaction. If George does not select either Visa or MasterCard,the system can present additional information to George that the mostcommon card used by Rachel is the Visa card and that the Visa card isthe default if no specific card is selected.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example method of the promotion-related userinterfaces of FIGS. 11A and 11B. The system identifies a creation eventof a gift card (1202) and identifies an applicable promotion to the giftcard (1204). Then the system presents the applicable promotion to auser, either a gift giver or a gift recipient, associated with thecreation event (1206). The system receives input from the userindicating acceptance of the applicable promotion (1208). Then thesystem can incorporate the applicable promotion into the gift card suchthat upon a gift recipient using a recipient payment mode associatedwith the gift card to make a purchase, a gift credit amount of money (orgift credit) is applied to the purchase according to the applicablepromotion (1210).

Gift Credits and Social Networking

The disclosure now turns to a discussion of gift credits and socialnetworking. The gift credits identified herein also advantageously canbe used in specific verticals and social networks. For example, FIG. 13illustrates a Facebook page 1300 in which a gift credit can be applied.Window 1302 includes the typical Facebook information, which can includebirthdays 1304 (or other special events such as anniversaries,graduations, engagements, weddings, holidays, and so forth) in a certainorder in which Mom's birthday 1306 is identified as being January 6th,the system can present a suggested option of Olive Garden and $20 as agift credit, in addition to the Send button. The birthday list 1304 caninclude other entries. One entry 1308 identifies June Smith has ananniversary coming up and suggests a $25 gift credit for Cinema 10. Thesystem can generate other suggestions upon request based on an analysisof a number of factors, such as previous gift credit history, previoususe of Facebook, previous amounts given via gift credit, what othershave already given June Smith (gift card amounts and gift cardmerchants), and so forth. The system can identify and correlate thisinformation in order to present suggestions in window 1300 for givinggift credits from the gift giver.

The example birthday list 1304 includes an entry 1310 for a $20 giftcertificate for Sister through Amazon.com. Accordingly, the recipientcan use that gift card in their next purchase on Amazon.com.

Scheduling Gift Credits

FIG. 14 illustrates an interface 1400 that enables a gift giver of agift credit or cards to schedule recurring gift credits. For example, agift giver wants to schedule gift cards for significant events ofcertain close relatives or friends. The events can be scheduled forrecurring events, such as a yearly birthday gift card or at some otherinterval such as an anniversary gift card every five years, or forone-time events such as a wedding, birth, or graduation. Row 1402illustrates a schedule for the giver's Mom whose birthday is on April1st. The gift giver can select various options such as reminder andpreview, choose a dollar amount, choose identification of the card to beused by the recipient to redeem the gift card, and a merchant forredemption. Messages can be added such as “Happy Birthday” which can addto the personal nature of the communication. The gift giver can thenschedule gift credit email to be communicated on a certain date inadvance of the birthday. The reminder option instructs the system toremind the gift giver to send a gift card for a particular recipientand/or event. The reminder can include a gift card history for thatrecipient or event. Row 1404 illustrates an example scheduled giftcredit for Dad's birthday. Row 1406 illustrates a scheduled gift creditfor Sister's anniversary at a certain date with a reminder box checkedas well as the preview box checked. Row 1406 illustrates another pointin which the scope of the gift credit can be modifiable. A typicalphysical gift card applies to a particular store or close group ofstores such as the Olive Garden or any store within a mall. Because therecipient redeems the gift card by simply using a Visa card online or ata merchant store, the system can gather additional information about thepurchase.

Combined Gift Credits From Many to One

The disclosure turns to a discussion of another aspect of thisdisclosure, namely a group gift card. FIG. 15A illustrates an exemplaryuser interface 1500 for giving a group gift card to Tom for hisbirthday. The display 1500 can include a number of total contributions,and a “one click” button to give the suggested (or other) amount, or aseparate field or input element 1516 where the gift giver enters acertain dollar amount. A human can initiate the group gift credit andbecome an organizer for the card. The organizer can set the terms of thegift card, the contribution period, and other aspects associated withthe gift credit. The organizer can also filter messages to the recipientfrom the other contributors associated with the gift credit, and soforth. The organizer can decide, for example, whether to enable votingfor the gift card merchant and can manually select a particular vendor,item, or other restriction for the gift credit. In one variation, thesocial network is the “organizer” and can maintain that role throughoutthe gift credit creation process or can hand off that role to a humanparticipant. In another variation, the highest contributor automaticallyassumes the role of the “organizer”. The system can hold contributedmoney in a third-party account until redeemed, transferred to therecipient's account, or otherwise used by the gift recipient. In theevent that a group gift card is rejected or cancelled before the systemcompletes the process, the system can refund the contributed funds tothe contributors directly and optionally notify them of the failed giftcredit.

FIG. 15B illustrates an example architecture 1520 for interfacingbetween online merchants, social networks, and banks that can be usedfor individual or group gift credits. This architecture 1520 allows amerchant 1524, such as Amazon.com, with established user accounts 1526with the merchant 1524 to communicate with a social network 1528, suchas Facebook or MySpace, with established user accounts 1530 with thesocial network 1528, for the purpose of processing (i.e. giving,receiving, managing, and redeeming) gift credits. Further, a controlengine 1522 can interact with the social network 1528 and/or themerchant 1524 to guide or control gift credit transactions. The controlengine 1522 can communicate with a bank 1532 or other financialinstitution holding a group of bank accounts 1534 and a third-partyaccount 1536 for holding funds in some gift credit scenarios. Some bankaccounts 1534 correspond to the various accounts 1526, 1530 in thesocial network 1528 and/or the merchant 1526. The architecture 1520 canprovide a user interface for the users on the social network, merchant,and/or control engine to manage gift credits. The social network 1528,merchant 1524, control engine 1522, and bank 1532 can communicate witheach other via established APIs for purposes relating to creating,delivering, notifying, and predicting related to gift credits.

FIG. 16 illustrates a method embodiment of this approach. In onevariation, the system receives a gift card for a gift recipient from agroup of givers (1602). Then the system withdraws a group of gift cardamounts of money from accounts, or reserves credit available, of thegroup of givers (1604). The system identifies a recipient payment mode(1606). Then, upon the recipient using the recipient payment mode tomake a purchase, the system applies at least part of the group of giftcard amounts of money to the purchase (1608).

Intelligent Transitions for Gift Credit Options

FIGS. 17A-17D illustrate an aspect of this disclosure associated withintelligently transitioning gift card options, including gift credits,at a web shopping portal such as Amazon.com. Here, a window 1700illustrates a giver George 1704 who is shopping on Amazon. A particularcontext 1702 is arrived at in which an item is being viewed for purchaseon Amazon. The system can present an interface to George for giving avirtual card 1706 to somebody. The interface can include a widget 1708to enable George to select a particular person as a recipient of a giftcredit. George can identify in other fields a particular amount of money(i.e., a gift credit), a message field for the recipient, and/or otheroptions relating to the gift credit. All of this information can becombined in a widget 1708 or a small window that the giver can use togive a particular gift card to a particular recipient. The fields inwindow 1708 can be prepopulated based on the current context of George'ssearching within Amazon.

FIG. 17A therefore illustrates an approach in which a gift creditinterface can be presented that is dynamic based on a level of surfingan internet page. If FIG. 17A represents an initial beginning of asearch at Amazon in which the giver has just logged in, then thepresentation of a window 1708 can represent an opportunity for George togive a gift credit to somebody just for use on Amazon. This is becausethe context in this scenario is only based on being in the Amazonenvironment. Assume that George searches for the garden section andbrowses to the interface shown in FIG. 17B.

FIG. 17B illustrates a dynamically modifiable gift credit interface at alower level. Here, assume that window 1712 represents a search such thatthe giver is in the Amazon garden environment 1714. Here, various gardentools and supplies are available. The widget 1718 that can be presentedto give a virtual card 1716 can adapt to this context. As can be seen inwindow 1712, shovels, rakes and hoses that are available in the window1718 can adapt such that the giver can select as the scope of the giftcredit and can be dynamically modified such that garden items definesthe scope of the gift credit. Therefore, when the giver uses field toselect a recipient for the gift credit, and the amount is entered infield, when George hits Purchase in field 1720, then the gift creditthat is given can have a dividable scope of garden items within theAmazon environment. George clicks on the shovel portion of the gardensection and browses to the interface shown in FIG. 17C. FIG. 17Cillustrates yet another layer. Here, assume that George has navigated toa more detailed environment within Amazon just related to shovels 1726.Window 1724 illustrates this level in which the dynamic widget 1730presents the option to give a gift credit 1728 with a particular personwho populates the To: field and the For: field is pre-populated withshovels. George clicks on the space item of the shovel portion andbrowses to the interface shown in FIG. 17D. FIG. 17D illustrates yet amore specific context of searching within Amazon in which a specificitem such as a spade is identified 1738. Window 1736 shows reviewinformation and specific cost of $9.75 plus $2 shipping. The giver canthen purchase a gift credit for the recipient manually, via a “oneclick” purchase, or purchase the spade itself and send it to therecipient.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example method associated with the featurediscussed above. In one variation, the system identifies a gift giverbrowsing a page of a merchant web site (1802). Then the system retrievesaccount information of the gift giver (1804) and analyzes content of thepage (1806). External data such as social networking data, the date,location, purchasing history, etc. of the gift giver and of potentialrecipients can also be retrieved and analyzed. The system can display alist of gift card options to the gift giver based on the content of thepage. The gift card options can include a physical gift card for arecipient, purchasing an item for the recipient, and/or sending a giftcard associated with a payment mode of the recipient such that when therecipient uses the payment mode to make a purchase, a gift card amountis applied to the purchase (1808). The system can optionally update thelist of gift card options as the gift giver navigates to different pagesof the merchant web site based on content of the different pages (1810).

Predictive Gift Credits

With respect to predictive uses of gift credits, FIG. 19 illustrates asystem 1900 that can be used for a predictive approach of presenting aninterface for a gift giver of a gift credit. Online presence block 1902represents an interface to the gift giver 1901 and what that interfacepresents to the gift giver. Specifically, with respect to predictivegift credits, the interface 1902 can present to the gift giver 1901certain predictions about what types of gift credits the gift giver 1901is likely to give. The system can tap in to and process various piecesof information in order to arrive at those predictions. For example, arecipient profile 1904 can be used for various recipients that are knownto receive gift cards or gift credits from the gift giver 1901. A giftgiver profile 1906 can include information about the giver's previoushabits, own purchases, and so forth. The system can analyze socialnetworking data 1910 or other personal data sources to identify suchinformation as birthdays, habits, preferences, location-basedinformation, and activities of the gift giver 1901 as well as variouslevels information about friends, family and associates. For example,through the social network data, the control engine 1908 and/or theonline presence information 1902 can retrieve birthdays of the giver'sclosest friends and family. This social networking data can be veryvaluable when predicting what gift credits the gift giver desires togive. The giver history 1912, the recipient history 1914 and a friendwish list 1916 can also communicate with one or more of the onlinepresence 1902 or the control engine 1908 to provide additionalinformation that the control engine 1908 can use when predicting giftcredit information. The control engine 1908 can utilize all or part ofthe various information, optionally assign weights to the variousinformation, and combine it together to arrive at a prediction at anygiven time and based on any particular online presence information forthe gift giver 1901 regarding what kinds of gift credits the gift giverdesires to or should give.

FIG. 20 illustrates one example of how this approach works. Assume thatwindow 2000 is the Neiman Marcus website and widget 2002 is presentedthat enables the gift giver to tap into and send a gift credit forNeiman Marcus or some other merchant. The widget 2002 can be aJavaScript or other popup, for example. For example, the website 2000 isNeiman Marcus and the widget 2002 is offering gift cards for otherretailers. The system can present a predicted gift card summary afterthe giver clicks on the gift credit button. Given the context ofinformation from one or more social networking data, online presence,giver history, recipient history and wish lists, and various profilesand so forth, FIG. 20 illustrates a predictive list of most likelyrecipients and that Dad 2006 should receive $100 2008 for Home Depot2009. A Send button 2010 is presented such that if the gift giverdecides to give the predicted gift card, a single click sends off thatgift card to the right person with the right scope and for the rightamount that Dad can redeem using his standard payment mechanism (Visa,American Express, MasterCard, etc.) at Home Depot. More information 2012can be provided in case the gift giver desires to tailor the particulargift credit in a more detailed way.

FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary method associated with the predictiveprocess for gift credits. In a first aspect, the system retrieves agiving history of a gift giver (2102) and identifies a current contextof the gift giver (2104). The current context can include multipleinformation sources, such as a current web page view, a time, a day,recently purchased gifts, recently received gifts, a browsing history,recent communications, scheduled calendar events, debt owed, and soforth. The system then generates a predictive list of gift cardsuggestions based on at least one of the giving history, the currentcontext, and other optional information (2106). A gift credit suggestioncan include one or more of a gift recipient, a recipient history, a giftcredit amount, and a gift card merchant, for example. Then the systempresents at least part of the predictive list of gift credit suggestionsto the gift giver (2108). The predictive list can be based on a currentactivity and presented in the context of the current activity.

Gift Credits with Loyalty Cards

FIG. 22 illustrates another example use of the system 2200 at a point ofsale 2202. A gift credit recipient pays for purchases using cash 2204,check, a payment card such as a Visa or debit card 2206 in conjunctionwith a club card 2208. The club card 2208 can make the recipienteligible for certain promotional discounts or savings. The gift creditcan be tied to the club card 2208 to identify transactions to which thesystem applies the gift card. One example of such a club card or loyaltycard is a Safeway club card in which the recipient receives discounts ofitems purchased at Safeway when they give the person at the registereither the club card or a phone number which identifies them as a memberof the club. In this example, the gift card server 2210 communicateswith a credit card operator 2214 and a merchant server 2212 as well ashardware at a point of sale such that the gift credit can be applied toa particular purchase independent of whether the recipient used cash, aclub card or a payment card in the normal fashion. For example, assume$10 in a gift credit has been presented to a recipient John. John goesto a point of sale but uses cash 2204 or a check to buy $10 worth ofgroceries. If the point of sale uses a club card information 2208 inorder to process the transaction, the entry of the club card informationcan be communicated to a merchant server 2218 and/or a gift card server2210 such that the gift credit amount can be applied to that purchase.The teller at the point of sale 2202 can simply inform the recipientthat, as part of this transaction, a gift credit was used to pay $10 andthus the gift recipient does not have to pay anything for thattransaction. This can be accomplished because usually the club cardinformation is provided during the transaction to arrive at the finalamount (since the club member gets discounts). Therefore, the finalamount can include the application of the $10 in a gift credit.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example method embodiment for processing a giftcredit in connection with a club card. In this example, the systemidentifies at a point of sale and in connection with a purchase, apayment mode and a loyalty credit from a gift recipient as part of thepurchase (2302). The system identifies a gift credit amount associatedwith at least one of the payment mode and the loyalty card (2304). Thesystem applies the gift credit amount to the purchase (2306). The giftrecipient can use the loyalty credit with the merchant in the form of aseparately scanned physical card, or a recipient-entered passcode,password, telephone number, or other information unique to therecipient.

Upselling with Gift Credits

FIG. 24 illustrates another opportunity for accessorizing, upselling, orotherwise modifying a gift credit based on various pieces of informationthat can be presented when the gift giver purchases the gift card, butwhich normally cannot be presented in a standard physical gift cardscenario. The system presents exemplary window 2400 just following agiver's decision to purchase a $50 gift credit. The information 2402 cansay something like “You Have Chosen $50 for an Outback Steakhouse giftcredit”. The system can deduce from information such as the merchant,the amount, the recipient, a recipient event, a message from the giftgiver to the recipient, that the gift giver intends the gift card to befor dinner for two. The system can then determine that the averagedinner for two at Outback Steakhouse is $56.50. The system can ask thegift giver if the gift giver wants to increase your gift credit by $6.502404 to meet the average dinner for two price. In another variation, thesystem can round the suggested increase amount, based on the actualaverage price, to a next round number, such as the next whole dollar orthe next five dollar increment. Of course, the gift giver is free toadjust the increase amount up or down and can decrease the amount if thegift giver feels the amount is too high. Button 2406 receives the OK toincrease the gift card for that amount. The window 2400 can also includeadditional information to guide the choice, such as average drink cost,dessert cost, tip amount, and so forth.

“Dinner and a Movie” Gift Credits

The disclosure now turns to a discussion of a “Dinner and a Movie”example embodiment. While the example presented herein is “Dinner and aMovie”, the same principles apply to virtually any scenario where theexact dollar value of the gift credit is not known or indefinite untilthe time of the purchase. FIG. 25A illustrates another gift cardinterface 2500 that differs in that no particular dollar amount ispresented. This example illustrates a gift card where the gift giverwants to buy dinner and a movie for two for Rachel for her 10thanniversary 2502 and a button 2504 to buy the gift card for dinner and amovie without a specific amount. The system can associate a number ofrestrictions with this gift card.

FIG. 26 illustrates a system 2600 for processing such a gift cardrequest from item or service with no definite amount. Block 2604represents a user interface that receives from gift giver 2602 a giftcard request for such an item or service that has no definite amount atstep 1. The request can be communicated to a server 2606. The server canthen reach out and communicate with various vendors at steps 2 and 3, afirst vendor 2608 and a second vendor 2610 as well as other vendors toreceive estimated costs for the dinner, the movie, the bracelet, or anyother item for purchase or service. Alternatively, the server 2604performs a database lookup to estimate costs without communicating withthe vendors 2606, 2608 directly. That maximum amount is communicatedback to the gift giver 2606 in step 4. When the gift giver 2602optionally confirms in step 5 that the gift card is approved, server2606 then accesses at step 6 the giver account 2614 to either withdrawmoney or reserve the maximum amount for such a gift credit (which is$210 as shown in the example shown in FIG. 25B). Then, as is noted inthe scenario above, when the recipient actually purchases the item orservice, such as a dinner and a movie from the vendors 2606, 2608 viathe recipient account 2612 at step 7, a final actual amount isidentified is step 8 by the server. Step 8 also involves applying theactual amount from the held or reserved amounts from the giver account2614 to the recipient's purchase. Step 9 involves releasing theremaining amount and step 10 optionally notifies the gift giver of therelease.

FIG. 27 illustrates an example method embodiment associated with theindefinite gift credit. The system first receives, from a gift giver, afirst identification of a recipient and a second identification of agift object costing an indeterminate amount of money (or gift credit) ata first time (2702). The system optionally determines an estimatedmaximum amount of money of the gift object (2704). The system can alsooptionally confirm with the gift giver that the estimated maximum amountof money is acceptable as a gift credit (2706). The system reserves theestimated maximum amount of money from a giver account (2708). Thesystem identifies a recipient payment mode (2710). Upon the recipientusing the recipient payment mode to make a purchase of the gift objectat a second time that is later than the first time (2712), the systemidentifies an actual cost of the gift object (2714) and applies theactual cost of the gift object from the estimated maximum amount ofmoney to the purchase (2716). The system can optionally release theremaining portion of the estimated maximum amount of money to the giftgiver (2718). In one aspect, the gift credit or amount can be maintainedin the giver payment account until the recipient makes the qualifiedpurchase.

FIG. 29 depicts an example timeline 2900 for a “dinner and a movie” giftcredit scenario to further illustrate these principles. The timelinerepresents multiple days and events occurring in those days. On Monday,the giver purchases 2902 a gift credit for the recipient for “Dinner anda Movie for Two”. The system establishes a policy or set of policiesguiding the gift credit. The policies for this gift credit can include adinner and two movie tickets purchased within 12 hours of each other.Other more detailed policies can include the two movie tickets must bepurchased for the same showing of the same movie, the dinner mustinclude at least two entrees, or the two movie tickets must be purchasedwithin the same 12 hour window. On Tuesday night, the recipientpurchases dinner for two 2904, which triggers a 12 hour window. If thesystem is monitoring the recipient purchases in real time (orsubstantially real time), the system can provide a notification to therecipient that a first part of the policy associated with the giftcredit has been fulfilled. The notification can include some othersuggestions and reminders of the remaining policy requirements forredeeming the gift credit for “Dinner and a Movie”. However, therecipient does not purchase movie tickets for a movie within the twelvehour window, so the system resets that policy. The policy with respectto a business can identify the business through any mechanism such asthrough a network merchant category or a network merchant ID thatidentifies a category of merchants (clothing stores) or a specificmerchant ID (Nordstroms).

The next set of exemplary transactions 2906 shows that the recipientpurchased breakfast on Thursday morning and movie tickets within thetwelve hour window, but the system may or may not recognize thebreakfast as a qualifying “Dinner” based on the policies. If the systemrecognizes the breakfast as a qualifying transaction according to thepolicy, then this set of transactions 2906 triggers the redemption ofthe gift credit. However, if the policy indicates that the “Dinner” mustbe purchased between the hours of 4:00 pm and midnight, then this set oftransactions 2906 does not trigger the redemption of the gift credit.Turning to the third set of exemplary transactions 2908, the recipientpurchases dinner for two on Saturday and restarts the twelve hourwindow. The system can send a notification to the recipient, such as byemail, text message, via a social network, or other communication, thatthe transaction has started the twelve hour window for completingqualifying transactions for redeeming the gift credit. In that twelvehour window, the recipient sees a movie with his spouse. This cansatisfy the policies associated with the gift credit and trigger itsredemption to cover the movie and dinner. At this point, the system cansend a notification to the recipient of the transactions that satisfiedthe policies, details of the transactions, such as the time, location,amount, merchant, and so forth. The notification can also include adescription of any optional transactions that can be associated with thegift credit.

Intercepting Gift Credit Transactions

FIG. 28 illustrates an example payment processing chain 2800. This chain2800 is representative and can include more or less steps, includingvariations with multiple concurrent paths for different payment modes,such as a branch for processing credit cards and a branch for processingdebit cards. The system for processing gift credits can intercepttransactions at any of multiple locations in the chain 2800, dependingon the type of gift credit, the type of underlying purchase ortransaction, the issuer of the gift credit, and other factors. In thischain, a user 8002 presents a credit/debit card or other paymentinstrument at a point of sale 8004. The point of sale can be at a brickand mortar retailer, such as a checkout cash register at Target, or avirtual storefront, such as Amazon.com or a mobile device store fordownloading applications. The point of sale 8004 must first verify thatthe payment instrument is valid and is backed by sufficient funds orcredit to complete the transaction. To this end, the point of sale 8004can communicate with a merchant/gateway 8006. The system can interceptpayments at the point of sale 8004 level and/or the merchant/gateway8006 level in order to process gift credits associated with club cardsor loyalty cards, for example. The merchant/gateway 8006 can communicatewith a bank 8008, and the bank 8008 can communicate with a credit cardissuing bank 8010.

Either the bank 8008 or the credit card issuing bank 8010 confirms thatcredit is available and can reserve that credit for payment for thetransaction or confirms that funds are available for the transaction andwithdraws those funds from the user's account. Then the various entitiescommunicate back through the chain to the point of sale 8004 to confirmthat the user's payment device is valid and has sufficient funds orcredit to complete the purchase. Then the point of sale can complete thepurchase. The system can intercept these transactions at any stage inthe chain and can intercept transactions at multiple stages. The systemcan intercept a transaction at a point of sale to apply part of the giftcredit associated with a loyalty card. The system can intercept thetransaction at a merchant/gateway 8006 level to apply a main portion ofthe gift credit amount, but can also intercept the same transaction atthe credit card issuing bank 8010 level to apply a promotional bonus forusing an American Express card.

Reverse Gift Credits

FIG. 30 illustrates an exemplary user interface 3000 for requesting areverse gift credit. The scenario in which FIG. 30 will be discussed isa group of three friends who go out to dinner together, each order foodand drinks, and at the end receive a bill or check for the combinedamount, including a tip, of $53. The approach described and the userinterface depicted in FIG. 30 provide a way to avoid the friends havingto remember to bring cash, perform mathematical calculations todetermine their share, or pay using three separate credit cards. One ofthe friends, Bob Jones, opens a reverse gift credit application on hissmart phone or other mobile device, which displays the user interface3000. The reverse gift card application provides an easy way for Bob topay for the dinner and arrange for his friends to reimburse Bob fortheir portions.

Bob logs in and the device retrieves Bob's credentials 3002 associatedwith at least one payment account 3004, in this case a MasterCard creditcard. Then Bob can select multiple givers 3006, 3008 and enter theamount that each owes for the dinner bill. The interface 3000 can alsodisplay the total remaining on the bill 3012 that may or may notcorrespond to Bob's share of the bill. Bob can then submit the reversegift credit and the system notifies Giver 1 and Giver 2 of theirproposed share of the bill, such as via text message or email, such as“You and Bob had dinner together at TGI Friday's. Bob is requesting thatyou pay $15 as your share of the bill.” The givers can confirm theproposal, add more money to the total, or otherwise interact with thenotification to revise the amount. Upon receiving the confirmations fromthe givers, the system debits the respective amounts of money from eachgiver and credits those amounts of money to Bob's account as areimbursement for paying the entire dinner bill.

Given that each person is in the system, the various credit/debit cardaccounts are known. The system can then confirm a payment plan for thegroup. Rachel then simply pays with her credit/debit card. Everyonegroup member's payment mechanisms is available and the respectiveamounts are retrieved from each giver account and associated with thetransaction made by Rachel such that she is reimbursed. Rachel does noteven need to be identified in the application as the one who will bemaking the payment. A policy can apply under the application for eachparticular such that when the group is identified with the respectivemember amounts, the group activity is monitored. For example, after allthe data is entered, Rachel may have left her credit card at home. Theapplication knows the group, knows the amount, and if George then paysthe bill (rather than Rachel), the system can automatically turn Rachelinto a gift giver and George the recipient. Indeed, in one aspect, noperson needs to be identified as the gift giver. Each person only needsto enter their respective amount and then one in the group will pay. Oneor more in the group could pay as well and the system could work out theappropriate payments to each payer such that the right reimbursement ismade to the correct respective payer.

FIG. 31 illustrates a method embodiment of this approach. The systemreceives amount information from each person in a group of people whoare going to be associated with a payment transaction (3020). The systemassociates each member of the group with a respective payment account orpayment mechanism (3022). The system receives data that one person inthe group paid via their payment mechanism (3024). The system thenapplies a respective amount of money from each person's payment accountin the group to the one person who paid (other than the paying member)(3026).

Rich, Social Thanking for Gifts

The disclosure turns now to retaining the social experience associatedwith giving and receiving a gift. When a recipient receives a gift, therecipient redeems the gift by making the purchase using his or herpreviously existing recipient payment account. For example, therecipient can purchase a book or can purchase dinner at the OliveGarden, where the money for that gift ultimately comes from a gift givereven though the recipient purchases it using their regular method ofbuying products. In association with making the purchase, the recipientcan use a smartphone application or some other app to take a pictureassociated with the gift, whether a picture of the item itself, therecipient's happy face, the store where the gift was redeemed, therecipient enjoying the purchase, and so forth. The recipient can selector take a picture. In one variation, the merchant point of sale canprompt a store clerk to remind the recipient to take a picture to share,although a backend system can push a notification to the recipient'sdevice to take a picture. In one variation, the picture is one of therequirements that must be satisfied in order to redeem the gift. Thesystem can apply an image recognition algorithm to ensure that the photocontains a desired object or person prior to sending the photo to thegift giver. The requirements to complete the redemption of the gift caninclude one or more of any number of factors such as a taking of apicture of the gift, the inclusion of the recipient's face (as verifiedby facial recognition software), the reception of a note or feedbacksuch as a rating of the gift and/or a comment, a location basedfeedback, and so forth.

Such requirements could also provide for partial redemption. Forexample, if the user performs 3 tasks then the gift giver pays for thefull gift. If the recipient only performs one task and take the pictureof the gift, then the gift giver pays for ½ of the gift. A backendsystem can track the recipient interactions through a device and/or anapplication to identify at what level the gift giver will contribute tothe purchase of the gift. In a similar manner, a merchant, manufacturer,advertiser, agency, or any other entity who may have a stake in or canuse the data obtained from one or more user interactions, can alsoprovide a contribution to a portion of the gift or an added bonus orfeature such as offering to pay for a dessert if the user performs threetasks associated with purchasing the gift.

The system can assign or identify tags for the photo such as the date,time, location, direction, facial recognition or orientation of thecamera. The recipient and/or the gift giver can assign other manualtags, such as hashtags or other textual or category tags, such as#nightoutinNYC, #anniversary, or #thebigfour-oh. A face recognizer canidentify people in the image and either tag faces or prompt the user toprovide identities for or otherwise label the recognized faces. Therecipient can establish privacy settings for the tags, so that onlyspecific users or groups of users can view or edit the tags.

After the tags are assigned, the system can retrieve giver data, such asthe ID of the gift giver, the giver phone number, gift ID number, orgiver address. The system can send the photo and at least a portion ofthe tags to the gift giver, or to some other party indicated by the giftgiver or recipient as a virtual “thank you” card. A gift app on asmartphone can prompt the user to customize the virtual “thank you” cardas the gift is redeemed, or shortly thereafter. For example, when therecipient makes a qualifying purchase using the recipient paymentaccount and triggers redemption of the gift, a gift server can detectthe redemption and push a notification to the recipient's smart phone tolaunch the virtual “thank you” card portion of a gift app. The recipientcan customize the text, audio, video, images, and other aspectsassociated with the virtual “thank you” card or with delivery of thevirtual “thank you” card. Alternatively, the system can automaticallypost the photo and all or part of the tags to a social network on behalfof the recipient. The system can attach multiple pictures or videos tothe virtual “thank you” card. For example, the recipient can send thegift giver a video showing a bit of the dinner that they received as thegift. The giver can indicate a preferred form to receive the virtual“thank you” card, such as email, a particular social media site, or SMS.The gift app can also receive the picture of the recipient that isassociated with the redemption of the gift and enable the recipient totransmit that image to be used in any manner to thank the giver. Forexample, the image could be imprinted on a physical gift card and mailedto the giver as a thank you with a particular dollar amount identifiedby the recipient and paid for out of the recipient payment account,which is already in the system.

The system can incentivize gratitude and virtual “thank you” cards byincluding additional offers to either the recipient or the giver as partof creating a virtual “thank you” card. The additional offers caninclude their own respective policies governing their redemption. Forexample, if the recipient receives a $50 gift to Olive Garden, thevirtual “thank you” card can include a picture of the recipient's dinnerat Olive Garden and a $5 gift for the giver to use at Olive Garden. Aphysical “thank you” gift card could be send to the giver as well. OliveGarden can fund the virtual “thank you” card, or the original recipientwho now becomes a gift giver in return. The amount of such an additionaloffer can be predetermined and paid for as a percentage of the gift orthe recipient can manually select an additional offer type and amount.The recipient of the additional offer can, in turn, forward on a secondvirtual “thank you” card upon redemption of the additional offer,creating a chain or loop of gifts/offers and “thank you's.”

The system can store a history of virtual “thank you” cards or theimages or other media assets contained in the virtual “thank you” cards.In this way, the recipient and/or the gift giver can browse and reusecertain virtual “thank you” cards or media assets. For example, if fivefriends contributed to a gift for the recipient, the recipient can storea photo used for one virtual “thank you” card, and reuse that photo insending virtual “thank you” cards to the remaining givers. In anothervariation, the system can create a virtual “corkboard” or collage ofgifts sent and received between a group of people over time. Forexample, the system can collect information of gifts sent between ahusband and wife, and present the images in a collage or slide show,allowing the husband and wife to reminisce over past gifts and thevirtual “thank you” cards exchanged at special occasions. The virtual“thank you” cards may have a greater, more enduring sentimental valuefor the husband and wife than the actual gifts exchanged.

In a similar manner, the system can track which givers gave which items,and can provide a “gift log.” The gift log can identify that the lampcame from Kevin, and the toaster came from Fran. In a more complexalternative, the system can perform image recognition or image matchingto allow a user to take a picture of an item in his or her home, and thesystem can match the item to an item in the gift log. When a match isdetermined, the system can present available data, such as when the itemwas received as a gift, for what event the item was received, from whomthe item was received, the approximate or actual price, and so forth.The system can link multiple recipients together as a household todetermine whether a particular item was received as a gift.

A system configured to practice a first example method embodiment, asshown in FIG. 32, receives an object associated with a gift via a giftprocessing application, wherein a recipient of the gift received thegift from a gift giver by purchasing the gift using a recipient paymentaccount that is independent of a giver payment account, and wherein boththe giver payment account and the recipient payment account existed whenthe gift giver chose the recipient and the gift through the giftprocessing application (3202). Then the system receives a tag associatedwith the object (3204), and can transmit the object to the gift giver(3206). The optional tag can provide metadata information about theobject. The tag can be a date, a time, a location, a manually enteredtag from the recipient, a description of the gift, or a message, forexample. The object can be, but is not limited to, an image, audio, atext-based message, or a video. The object can be any digitally storableobject for presentation to the gift giver and/or receiver. In onevariation, after the recipient receives the gift, the system can receivean identification of an amount of money and a merchant associated withthe object, and present the amount of money and the merchant informationto the gift giver such that the gift giver can make a purchase at themerchant using the giver payment account and have the amount of moneyapplied to the purchase. The recipient payment account and/or a merchantpayment account can provide the amount of money to be applied to thepurchase. In a related method, as shown in FIG. 33, the system can storean image associated with a gift via a gift processing application,wherein a recipient of the gift received the gift from a gift giver bypurchasing the gift using a recipient payment account that isindependent of a giver payment account, and wherein both the giverpayment account and the recipient payment account existed when the giftgiver chose the recipient and the gift through the gift processingapplication (5402), receive a tag associated with the image, the tagidentifying the gift giver (5404), and receive a picture of an item inthe image after storing the image (5406). Then the system can present anindication of the gift giver to the recipient in response to receivingthe picture (5408).

Face Recognition

The disclosure turns to a discussion of problems associated withmonitoring a recipient of a gift in-store to provide reminders,suggestions, or notifications regarding suggestions or redemption of thegift. In a first example, a gift giver has given a recipient a giftgoverned by a policy indicating a merchant and a recipient paymentaccount. The policy can include other data on how to manage redemptionof the gift, such as a $50 gift to Olive Garden which the gift givergives to the recipient and the recipient redeems by using the recipientpayment account, such as a debit or credit account. Once the gift is inthe gift administration system, the system can create a monitoring tagor object. The system can distribute or post the monitoring tag orobject to the merchant, so that as the recipient enters the merchant'splace of business (as identified, for example, by a network merchant IDor a network merchant category), surveillance cameras can capture imagesof the recipient's face, and match the recipient's face with the policyvia face imaging or recognition technology. Face imaging or recognitiontechnology can compare images or video of faces with stored facialcharacteristics to generate a positive match.

An on-site face detection system at the merchant can identify when therecipient enters the merchant place of business. Upon successfulrecognition of the recipient by the face recognition system, the systemcan perform an action. The gift policy can provide the actions toperform, or the actions can be specified by the merchant, the recipient,a type of recipient, available store clerks, available inventory in thatlocation in the store, and so forth. If an outstanding gift policy forthat merchant is active in the system for the recipient, then the systemcan send a notification to the recipient reminding him or her that aboutthe gift, such as an automated telephone call, text message, a popup ona smartphone, and so forth. The notification can include a reminder ofthe relevant portions of the policy for redeeming the gift, such asreminding the recipient to use his Visa card to make the purchase, andreminding the user that the gift amount is $50. The system can poll themerchant to locate any additional offers or promotions from themerchant, such as “you have a $50 gift card to Olive Garden, we'll add$5 to the value if you buy dinner tonight,” and include those additionaloffers or promotions in the notification. These additional offers orpromotions can be widely available or can be tailored for the specificrecipient.

The system can use face recognition to identify that a recipient havingan active gift has entered the merchant location, and notify in-storeworkers regarding the recipient. Then the in-store workers can locatethe recipient or spend special attention with the recipient if or whenthey encounter him or her. The face recognition system can be at asingle point, such as at the entry, and generate a live list ofcustomers in the store having active gifts. Alternatively, with facerecognition placed throughout the merchant location, the system cangenerate a rich list of the locations within the store where suchrecipients are in real time. The system can tap in to other data sourcesto supplement or augment the rich list of recipients with valid gifts,such as cell phone geolocation data, RFID tags in shopping carts, socialnetworking data, online public profile information, a customer historydatabase, and so forth.

FIG. 34 illustrates an example method embodiment for face recognitionwith gifts. An example system can receive, via a face identificationsystem at a merchant location, an identification of a recipient of agift which is redeemable at the merchant using a recipient paymentaccount that is independent of and not in control of a giver paymentaccount, the gift having an associated policy and stored within a giftprocessing system (3402). Then the system can transmit a reminder to therecipient via a recipient device that the recipient has the gift (3404).The system can further transmit an additional offer from the merchant inaddition to the gift, such as a coupon, promotion, coupon code, discountvoucher, and so forth. The additional offer from the merchant can beconditional upon one of the recipient making a redeeming purchase in aperiod of time and the recipient making a redeeming purchase prior toleaving the merchant location. The system can place other conditions onthe additional offer as well. The system can further receive anindication of a purchase made by the recipient using the recipientpayment account at the merchant location.

In another variation, a person is enrolled in the gift and facerecognition system, such as through a previous gift that has beenredeemed, but for whom no gifts are currently active. The system canrecognize the person as he or she enters the merchant place of business.Based on previous sent or received gifts at the merchant or othermerchants, the system can determine via social networking or gifthistory data that the person is likely to give a gift to a recipient.The system can generate and send a notification to the person, who wouldbecome then the gift giver, to send a prepackaged gift of $50 from tothe recipient. The system can identify these relationships based onFacebook friendships, for example. An example notification could say“Tom, you know that your Facebook friend Ginny loves the Olive Garden.Why not give her a $50 gift credit to the Olive Garden for her birthdayin two weeks? Click here for delivery by next Sunday.” The system canapply an algorithm to match up a potential giver with the most likelyrecipient(s) in his or her social network based on the taste of therecipient, holiday timing, past patterns of giving, closeness of therelationship, closeness of the upcoming holiday, birthday, or event, andso forth.

With face recognition, the system can also track how many times arecipient having an active gift has entered one of the merchant'slocations of business without making a purchase. For example, therecipient may stop by four different locations of Best Buy withoutmaking a purchase. At this point, the system can trigger a contact froma customer service agent or personal shopping assistant from Best Buy tocall or otherwise contact the recipient to provide help. Perhaps therecipient is looking for a specific item and is willing to use the gift,but cannot find the desired item. The system can provide all or part ofthe gift data to the customer service agent, so that the customerservice agent can provide more personalized assistance or maketopic-appropriate small talk with the recipient.

Delaying Funds Transfer Until Time of Transaction

The disclosure turns now to managing money contributed to a gift that isultimately not redeemed or that is under-redeemed so that no money islost in the gift transaction. If the gift credit and correspondingpolicy are never used or activated by a qualifying purchase using therecipient payment account, then the system can do nothing and leave thegift funds in the giver payment account. For example, the giver buys therecipient a $50 gift for Joe's Pizza. The system sends the recipient anotification of the gift credit. For whatever reason, the recipientnever goes to Joe's Pizza or never redeems the gift credit. In thiscase, the giver payment account is never charged for the gift, and notransaction occurs. This approach is basically a no-loss gift modelbecause the gift is paid for post-purchase. If the gift is redeemed overmultiple transactions, such as a gift having a value of $100, andredeemed in a first transaction of $40 and a second transaction of $60,the system can withdraw or transfer funds from the giver payment accountas the transactions occur. Alternatively, a first transaction of lessthan the full gift amount can trigger a transfer of the entire giftamount from the giver payment account.

A system configured to practice a third example method embodiment cancreate a gift for a recipient, based on a request from a gift giver, andnotify the recipient of the gift. The gift credit can be redeemable atthe merchant using a recipient payment account that is independent ofand not in control of a giver payment account, the gift credit having anassociated policy and stored within a gift processing system. If therecipient never redeems the gift credit using the recipient paymentaccount, then the gift giver is not charged for the gift credit and notransaction occurs. Alternatively speaking, the giver payment account ischarged only upon redemption of the gift credit using the recipientpayment account. To avoid accumulation of such outstanding charges, thegift credit can expire after a certain period of time, such as after 2years, after a certain number of notices to the recipient, and so forth.In the case of the gift giver closing the giver payment account, theorganization administering the giver payment account can withholdsufficient funds to cover the eventual redemption of the gift credit fora certain period of time, after which the funds can revert to the giftgiver, or can be applied to the recipient payment account.

Identifying Transactions Almost Satisfying a Gift Policy

In one variation, the recipient makes a transaction that almostsatisfies the policy requirements to redeem the gift, but thetransaction does not meet one or more of the policy's conditions. Thesystem can notify the recipient that the policy was almost satisfied,and can either suggest to the recipient how to modify the transaction orwhat additional steps to take to satisfy the policy and redeem the gift.Alternatively, the recipient can instruct the system to amend the policyto make the transaction satisfy the policy and redeem the gift. Thesystem can charge a percentage of the gift amount or some other amountin exchange for amending the policy to match the transaction. The systemcan notify the giver of the gift that the policy was almost met, andrequest authorization from the gift giver to modify the policy so thatthe transaction satisfies the policy. The request to the gift giver canprovide an indication of which part of the policy would be modified, towhat it would be modified, or details about the original transaction.

This approach can assist a recipient who may be struggling to rememberthe exact conditions or terms of the policy for the gift, but can alsoremind the recipient that the gift exists. Merchants or the giftprocessing system can analyze such instances of “almost” satisfying thegift policy as analytics data to determine customer trends orpreferences. Then, based on the analytics data, the merchants can eithermodify default gift giving settings, suggest improved policy conditionsfor future gifts, rearrange a cost or incentive structure to drivegivers and recipients to more profitable types of gifts and policies,and so forth. While an analytics engine may gather a large number ofsuch “almost” redemptions of gifts under their corresponding policies,the system can provide notifications to the gift giver and/or recipientonly for those transactions that are within a threshold difference fromsatisfying the policy, which threshold can be set by the gift giver, therecipient, or the system.

In a related variation, a recipient can ask the merchant to run a ‘testtransaction’ prior to the actual transaction to determine whether thetransaction would satisfy the policy. The result from such a testtransaction can be a binary “yes” or “no,” or can provide additionaldetails regarding why the policy would not be satisfied, or what mustchange in the test transaction to satisfy the policy.

Coupons and Daily Deals

The system can also apply policies to promotions such as coupons ordaily deals. In terms of a coupon or daily deal, the person purchasingthe coupon or daily deal is typically also the recipient of the couponor daily deal. Accordingly, this section refers to a purchaser, but canbe substituted for a gift giver and recipient in the appropriate places.When a purchaser purchases a group-based daily deal, such as a promotionfrom Groupon™, the system can associate a policy with the purchaserpayment account, so that when the purchaser makes a qualifying purchaseaccording to the policy, the system automatically applies thecorresponding discount or promotion. The purchaser can register his orher purchaser payment account with a coupon or daily deal website, andregister for or purchase “deals.” These deals are embodied as policiesfor monitoring transactions made using the purchaser payment account.The purchaser can, via a website or app through which the purchaser isenrolled and logged in, purchase or request a coupon or daily dealpolicy with one-click. In one variation, the user can enroll multiplepurchaser payment accounts with the provider of the coupon or daily dealpolicy. The system can monitor purchases using any of the multiplepurchaser payment accounts, and as soon as a qualify transaction isdetected in one of the accounts, the policy is satisfied and deactivatedfor all the other accounts. One policy can apply to a group of users,such as a group who all purchased a group-based daily deal, or thesystem can create individual policies for each individual in the group.

Tagging

In one embodiment, the system can tag or annotate transactions. Forexample, the system can receive an indication that a person made apurchase using an existing payment account of the person to yield atransaction record.

The system can annotate the transaction record to yield an annotationassociated with the transaction record. A payment transacting entity canperform the annotating, such as a credit card processor, a merchant, ora bank. Annotations can be created based on an instruction from one of amerchant associated with the purchase, the recipient, or the gift giver.Annotations can be based on an aggregation of tags from multiple users.Annotations can be created based on tags from the gift giver and/or therecipient. The aggregation of tags can be generated by multiple usersproviding tags associated with a merchant related to the purchase. Forexample, user can tag the transaction in a personal financial managementapplication, or can create social media posts associated with,mentioning, or featuring the gift, and the system can extract ordetermine tags for the gift or purchase.

The system can implement a policy, based at least in part on theannotation, that governs at least how an amount of money from a giftgiver to the person is to be applied to the payment account as a resultof the purchase. The system can implement the policy by revising thepolicy as instructed by the annotation. The system can implement thepolicy, for example, by adding a second amount of money from a merchantassociated with the purchase to the payment account, or by providing anoffer to one of the person or the gift giver from a merchant associatedwith the purchase.

Simplified User Interface

In one embodiment, a gift portal provides a simplified user interfacefor giving a gift that adapts as the gift giver enters additionalinformation. FIG. 35A illustrates an example user interface 3500 at aninitial stage with blank fields for entering a recipient's name 3502, amerchant 3504, and an amount 3506. While this example is discussed interms of a merchant and an amount, the merchant can be substituted for acategory of good or service, any one of a set of merchants, multiplemerchants, and so forth. Similarly, the amount can be substituted with aflexible amount defined by the type of object(s) purchased, for example.The gift giver enters information into these fields or selects fromexisting options to populate the fields. In this example, FIG. 35B showsthat the gift giver entered “Olive Garden” into the merchant field 3504.As the user enters one or more of the fields, the system canautomatically adapt the giving interface 3500 accordingly. FIG. 35Cshows how the background 3508 of the user interface 3500 is adapted tomatch the user-entered information. This provides a customization and aninstant feel of familiarity for the gift giver. Merchants can providethe data, images, audio, video, or other data to update or augment theuser interface associated with their name, or the system can harvestsuch data from a search engine or from the merchant's website, forexample. The system can provide multiple different levels ofcustomization that fade in as the system is more and more certain of themerchant. For example, the system can fade the background image 3508 inmore with each key press that increases a certainty or confidence that“Olive Garden” is the user's intended merchant.

In another example shown in FIG. 35D, as the gift giver enters arecipient name “Tom” in field 3502, the system can poll the giver'scontacts on a social network or in an address book, for example. Whenthe system finds a match, the system can display an image 35010 of therecipient. If the system identifies multiple candidate recipients, suchas multiple contacts with the name “Tom,” the system can display animage for each, and the user can simply click on the desired recipient.The system can also update the user interface based on synergies betweenthe various fields 3502, 3504, 3506. For example, if the gift giverenters “Tom” and “Olive Garden,” the system can automatically retrieveor deduce what Tom's favorite dish is at Olive Garden, and display animage or a description of that dish and suggest a gift amount thatcovers the cost of that dish, plus a beverage and a tip. The system canaccount for regional price differences so that the price is adjusted toreflect Olive Garden prices near Tom, or prices for Olive Gardens thatTom regularly visits.

One-Click Gift Offering

In another embodiment, a method of extending a gift offering includingat least one product from a gift giver to a recipient for selection bythe recipient using one-click purchasing at an on-line shoppingenvironment is disclosed. The recipient can purchase the selectedproduct using one-click on a merchant web site or via a mobile app, forexample. The recipient can enable one-click actions in advance so that aone-click or equivalent action completes a purchase via her paymentaccount and a server can transfer money from a giver payment account toa receiver payment account to reimburse at least a portion of the costof the gift. The system 100 can use address delivery information storedin the recipient's account to deliver the product. The address deliveryinformation can include physical addresses or electronic addresses, andcan further include delivery preferences, such as delivering digitalcontent to a particular email address, or delivering office supplies toa ‘work’ address. In one aspect, the gift giver can purchase theselected product using his payment account and the system can useaddress delivery information stored in the giver's account for deliveryto the recipient.

FIG. 36 illustrates a method embodiment of a one-click gift offeringutilizing a recipient payment and delivery account. A system 100receives from a gift giver having a giver payment account,identification of a recipient and identification of a product associatedwith the recipient (3602). The product can be a gift associated with therecipient, either a tangible object such as a book, an intangibleservice such as a magazine subscription, or an electronic object such asa digital media download or streaming a video. The system 100 transmitsto a recipient device such as a smartphone or other mobile device anoffering including the product for selection by the recipient (3604).Prior to the transmission, the offering is associated with a recipientpayment and delivery account that includes a recipient payment accountand address delivery information for the recipient. Upon receiving aselection from the recipient of a selected product in the offering, thesystem 100 processes purchase and delivery of the selected product usingthe recipient payment and delivery account (3606). The system transfersmoney from the giver payment account to the recipient payment account toreimburse at least a portion of a cost of the selected product (3608).In alternate variations, the system can transfer money from the giverpayment account to a holding account, and from the holding account tothe recipient payment account or to the merchant directly. The systemcan transfer money between accounts upon detecting initiation of thepurchase transaction. A direct payment from the giver account couldoccur as well by intercepting the transaction when the recipient makesthe purchase.

FIG. 37 illustrates a system embodiment of a one-click gift offeringutilizing a recipient payment and delivery account. A gift giver 3702desiring to give a gift electronically using a one-click gift offering,can submit a gift request to a server 3704 at an on-line shoppingenvironment. The server can process the gift request and generate anoffering preview that includes at least one product for confirmation bythe gift giver. The gift giver can confirm or modify the offeringgenerated by the server before returning a confirmed offering to theserver. The server can extend the confirmed offering to the recipient3706 for selection of a gift within the offering. Once the recipientselects a gift, the system completes the purchase of the gift via avendor 3708 using the recipient's payment and delivery account 3710. Thesystem transfers at least a portion of the cost of the gift from thegiver's payment and delivery account 3712 to the recipient's payment anddelivery account to reimburse the recipient for the purchase of thegift. Lastly, the system arranges for delivery of the gift from thevendor to the recipient based on delivery address information stored inthe recipient's account. Alternatively, the system can transfer at leasta portion of the cost of the gift from the giver's payment and deliveryaccount directly to the on-line shopping environment and/or to thevendor.

FIG. 38 illustrates an example gift request using a one-click giftoffering utilizing a recipient payment and delivery account. The giftgiver 3302 can submit a gift request 3800 to the server 3304 to send agift credit to a recipient using a one-click gift offering. The giftrequest can include a field for a recipient 3802 that is associated withthe gift giver. A recipient 3306 can be associated with a gift giver3302 when information related to the recipient is stored in the giver'spayment and delivery account 3312. For example, the giver can storeaddress delivery information for the recipient in addition to otherinformation such as preferences and dates of important events related tothe recipient including birthday, anniversary, graduation dates, ordates of other important life events or holidays that the recipient islikely to observe or has observed in the past. Data from a socialnetwork can be linked to the giver's payment and delivery accountmanually or automatically, and can be based on the relationship in thesocial network. The gift giver can input a gift suggestion 3804 forexample, a diamond necklace or the gift giver can select from adrop-down menu of gift suggestions 3806 for the recipient. Giftsuggestions can include products such as recently released books andmusic or a service such as a magazine subscription. In some variations,as the recipient is browsing items to purchase online using the gift, anon-line shopping environment can display the gift suggestions to theuser in an attempt to influence the recipient toward purchasing asuggested gift item. Alternately, the server can suggest one or moregifts for a specific recipient based on information stored in therecipient's account such as a wish list, preferences, browsing historyand past gift information such as received gifts. The gift request 3800can include gift amounts such as a minimum and maximum amount of money3808 the gift giver is willing to spend on a gift for the recipient.Optionally, the gift request can include additional information such asquantity, greeting, manufacturer, color, availability, shipping cost,delivery date, number of products to include in the preview, etc. Amessage such as a birthday greeting, anniversary, holiday orcongratulatory note can be included in the request as well as an amountallotted for shipping cost and a desired delivery date for the gift. Forexample, if a giver Aaron desires to gift his wife (the recipient) adiamond necklace for their upcoming anniversary using a one-click giftoffering, he would input the desired gift, a diamond necklace, in thegift request 3804. Aaron would enter the amount of money he is willingto spend on the diamond necklace in the request, for example a minimumof $100 and a maximum of $600. Optionally, he can input an anniversarygreeting and a delivery date for the diamond necklace so it arrives onor before their anniversary.

FIG. 39 illustrates an exemplary gift offering preview 3900 using aone-click gift offering utilizing a recipient payment and deliveryaccount. The server 3304 receives a gift request 3800 from the giftgiver 3302 and can automatically generate the offering preview 3900based on the information provided by the gift giver 3302 in the giftrequest 3800. The offering preview can include products that meet therequirements set forth in the gift request such as description, pricerange, color, manufacturer, delivery date, cost, etc. For example, thegiver Aaron requested one diamond necklace as a gift within the pricerange of $100-$600. The offering preview returned by the server includesup to ten results of suggested diamond necklaces that meet therequirements specified in the gift request. The giver Aaron can selectdesired diamond necklaces to include in the offering to the recipientLisa from the offering preview supplied to him by the server. Forexample, Aaron can select items one, two, and four from the offeringpreview. Aaron can also select additional items not included in theoffering preview. Additionally, the offering preview can suggest relatedproducts in addition to the requested product such as a diamond braceletand diamond earrings 3902. Providing the gift giver with relatedproducts in the offering preview can help the gift giver give the bestgift possible by gifting the recipient coordinating gifts, for example,such as matching clothes or electronics and compatible accessories. Forexample, if Aaron does not like any of the diamond necklaces in theoffering preview, he can deselect all of the necklaces and chooseinstead to receive an offering preview of diamond bracelets.Alternately, Aaron can decide that offering a diamond bracelet inaddition to a diamond necklace would be an especially thoughtful gift.In one aspect, the gift giver can manually select diamond necklaces forthe offering preview after performing a search within an on-lineshopping environment such as Amazon.com for necklaces that he thinks hiswife would like and that meet his gift requirements. Additionally, theoffering preview can include products both selected automatically by theserver and manually by the gift giver. The system can recommend to Aaronitems to include as suggested items for Lisa, based on what Aaron'ssocial network contacts have selected in similar situations, or based onwhat other users with similar demographics and a similar gift situationhave selected.

FIG. 40 illustrates an exemplary offering from a gift giver to arecipient. The offering includes products approved by the gift giver, inthis case the gift giver 3302 narrowed down gift options to threediamond necklaces. The recipient, Lisa, can receive the offerelectronically for example through her email and with one-click she canpurchase 4002 the diamond necklace she desires from the offering, suchas clicking a link included as part of an HTML formatted email messageor by replying to a specially formed email address indicating which ofthe three diamond necklaces she wishes to purchase. The email messagecan include an image, short description, audio, a video, othermultimedia, or links to other multimedia resources describing thesuggested items so that the recipient, Lisa, can have sufficientinformation upon which to base a purchase decision. In this way, Lisacan instantly purchase one of the suggested items with a single step.This approach reduces friction to redeeming a gift, but can still allowthe recipient, Lisa, to browse beyond the suggested items if she sodesires. The system 100 automatically transfers at least a portion ofthe cost of the gift from the giver's payment and delivery account tothe recipient's payment and delivery account to cover the cost of thegift. Optionally, the recipient can choose to add one of the necklacesas her gift to her on-line shopping cart and continue shopping 4004 forother items at Amazon.com. When the recipient checks out from theon-line store, the system automatically transfers at least a portion ofthe cost of the gift from the giver's payment and delivery account tothe recipient's payment and delivery account. Should the recipient beunsatisfied with the offering she can opt to not accept the offering andinstead use the money allotted for a diamond necklace to purchase a giftof her choice at Amazon.com 4006 or reject the offering all together4008. The recipient can decline the offering and the system can displaya default gift suggestion webpage at the on-line shopping environmentthat includes a variety of typical gift ideas or a specific giftsuggestion webpage based on the recipient's preferences, wish list,browsing history, received gifts, etc. Alternately, the recipient candecline the offering and the system can back out of the offering as ifthe recipient hit the “back” button on a browser and display moreproducts related to the gift specified by the gift giver. For example,from the offering 4000, when the recipient selects “No thanks, I'll shopfor a gift” 4006 the system displays a webpage having more options fordiamond necklaces. The recipient can continue to browse for a desiredgift from this webpage. From this point, the recipient can browseproducts in the on-line shopping environment and select her gift.

Additionally, should the recipient decline the offering and insteadchoose her own gift by browsing, she can select a gift that is eithermore or less than the amount of money the gift giver specified. Forexample, the recipient can select a gift that is significantly less thanthe amount of money the gift giver had allocated and the system canstore the leftover funds in the recipient's payment and delivery accountto apply to a future purchase at the on-line shopping environment. Whilethe gift was intended for a diamond necklace, after the initial purchaseof a diamond necklace satisfies that gift policy, the remainder amountcan be freed from the gift policy to be applied to other, futurepurchases without restrictions or limitations or with reduced or relaxedrestrictions or limitations. The recipient can select a gift that ismore than the amount of money the gift giver allocated for the gift andthe system can deduct the remaining cost of the product from therecipient's payment and delivery account after the giver's payment isapplied. Any combination of the ideas set forth is possible and shouldnot be limiting in any way.

In another embodiment, a one-click gift offering utilizing a giverpayment and delivery account without the use of a recipient payment anddelivery account is discussed. This embodiment differs from theone-click gift offering utilizing a recipient payment and deliveryaccount discussed above in that the recipient does not purchase the giftusing her payment and delivery account and receive reimbursement fromthe giver payment and delivery account, but rather the gift is purchaseddirectly from the giver's account and delivery information for therecipient is stored in the giver's account. As an example of thisarrangement using the above-discussed parties, Aaron provides a gift toLisa of a diamond necklace. Lisa can browse diamond necklaces using heraccount, and when she makes a purchase of a diamond necklace, theon-line shopping environment does not charge her account and insteadcharges Aaron's account. The system continues to arrange for delivery toLisa according to her account information. If any additional funds areneeded beyond the gift, Lisa's account can be charged for thoseadditional funds.

FIG. 41 illustrates a method embodiment of a one-click gift offeringutilizing a giver payment and delivery account. A system 100 receivesfrom a giver identification of a recipient and identification of aproduct associated with the recipient (4102). The product can be a giftassociated with the recipient, either a tangible object such as a bookor an intangible service such as a magazine subscription or streaming,downloading, or granting permissions to view digital content. The systemgenerates an offering including at least one product for selection bythe recipient (4104). Prior to generating an offering, the offering isassociated with a giver payment and delivery account that includes apayment account of the gift giver and address delivery information forthe recipient. The system associates the offering with a recipientdevice (4106) or with multiple recipient devices. Some example recipientdevices include a smartphone or other mobile device. Then, uponreceiving a selection from the recipient of a selected product in theoffering via the recipient device, the system processes purchase anddelivery of the selected product based on the payment account of thegift giver and address delivery information included in the giverpayment and delivery account for the recipient (4108).

FIG. 42 illustrates a system embodiment of a one-click gift offeringutilizing a giver payment and delivery account. A gift giver 4202desiring to give a gift electronically using a one-click gift offering,can submit a gift request to a server 4204 at an on-line shoppingenvironment. The server 4204 can process the gift request and generatean offering preview that includes at least one product for confirmationby the gift giver 4202. The gift giver 4202 can confirm or modify theoffering preview generated by the server 4204 before returning aconfirmed offering to the server 4204. The server 4204 can extend theconfirmed offering to the recipient 4206 for selection of a gift withinthe offering. Once the recipient 4206 selects a gift, the systemcompletes the purchase of the gift via a vendor 4208 using the giver'spayment and delivery account 4210. Lastly, the system arranges fordelivery of the gift from the vendor 3308 to the recipient 3306 based ondelivery address information stored in the giver's account. For example,a giver 4202 Aaron desires to give a gift to his wife (the recipient4206 Lisa) for their anniversary. Aaron can complete a gift request 3800requesting a diamond necklace as a gift within the price range of$100-$600 and can submit it to the server 4204. The server 4204 cangenerate an offering preview 3900 including suggested diamond necklacesfor Aaron 3902 to confirm. Aaron can accept or modify the offeringpreview 3900 before sending a confirmed offering to the server 4204. Atthis point, the server 4204 sends the offering 4000 to the recipient,Lisa 4206 for selection of a gift. The recipient 4206 can accept one ofthe offered gifts using one-click purchasing 4002 utilizing the giver'spayment and delivery account, she can decline the offering 4008 or shecan decline the offering and instead shop for a gift 4006 through theon-line shopping environment utilizing the giver's payment and deliveryaccount. After the recipient selects her gift using one-clickpurchasing, the system utilizes the giver's payment and delivery account4210 to purchase the gift from the vendor 4208. The system uses addressdelivery information for the recipient stored in the giver payment anddelivery account. In addition to payment information and addressdelivery information for the recipient stored in the giver's payment anddelivery account, other information such as email address, preferences,recipient wish list, recipient browsing history, etc. can be stored inthe giver's payment and delivery account. Optionally, informationrelated to potential recipients can be stored in the giver's payment anddelivery account based on association through a social network.Information related to the recipient can be automatically transferred ormanually added by the gift giver.

The concept of giving a gift using a one-click gift offering utilizing arecipient payment and delivery account or a giver payment and deliveryaccount can be applied to multiple givers desiring to pool theirresources to give one or more gifts to a recipient. In the first case,utilizing a recipient payment and delivery account, instead of thesystem 100 transferring money from one giver payment and deliveryaccount to the recipient's account as reimbursement for the cost of thegift, the cost of the gift can be divided between multiple givers basedon pledged amounts. The group can decide to divide the cost of apotential gift evenly among all of the members, or each member canpledge a certain amount of money or maximum amount of money toward thegroup gift. The system can transfer money from each of the groupmember's payment and delivery accounts to the recipient's payment anddelivery account to cover the cost of the group gift. For example, ifRyan, Gary and Steve desire to give a group gift to Tom for his upcoming50th birthday, they can decide to split the cost of his gift evenly upto $50 each. If Tom selects a gift from his offering that costs $120,each group member pays $40 toward the group gift. The system chargesTom's payment and delivery account and the system can automaticallytransfer $40 from each group member's payment and delivery account toTom's payment and delivery account to cover the cost of the group gift.

Alternately, a group can give a gift using a one-click gift offeringutilizing a giver payment and delivery account. A group can designateone group member as the “group giver” that initially purchases a giftfor a recipient using the one-click gift offering. After the recipientselects his desired gift from an offering 4000, the system 100 completesthe purchase using the payment and delivery account of the “groupgiver”. The account of the “group giver” can store information relatedto the recipient such as email address, mailing address, preferences,browsing history, wish list, received gifts, etc. Then the system cantransfer money from each of the group member's payment and deliveryaccounts to the “group giver” payment and delivery account to cover thecost of the group gift. For example, a group consisting of Ryan, Garyand Steve wishes to give a gift to Tom for his upcoming 50th birthday.The system designates Ryan as the “group giver” that will initially payfor the selected gift. After Tom selects a toaster using the one-clickoffering delivered to his smartphone, the system purchases the toasterusing Ryan's payment and delivery account. Then the system transfersmoney from each of Gary's and Steve's payment and delivery accounts toreimburse Ryan for their portion of the cost of the gift to Tom.Utilizing group giving in the context of one-click gift offeringutilizing a giver or recipient payment and delivery account allows for agroup of friends to effortlessly and seamlessly give a group gift to arecipient.

Merchant Portal

FIG. 43 illustrates another embodiment of this disclosure that relatesto a merchant portal for enabling a merchant to manage and enhance thepurchasing experience at their store when a policy applies to anypurchaser's activity. Every merchant in this system can have their ownportal 4300 to manage how offers are processed to at least some degree.For example, Joe's Pizza may be a single shop owned by Joe in Dunkirk,Maryland. The system can provide a portal in which Joe can go in andaffect the policies that are established when a giver gives a giftcredit to a recipient. For example, Joe may want to reward the giftgiver for choosing his store as a merchant. One such exemplary scenariofor providing rewards is to map certain user behaviors to earning extrapoints in a loyalty or rewards system that are redeemable for discountson gas, grocery, or other purchases. Joe can go in and for a period oftime, or indefinitely, establish an offer for givers of a 44% reward ofany gift credit amount given 4302. So if the giver selects Joe's for a$50 gift credit for a recipient, one policy is established to monitorthe recipient's purchases. Another policy can automatically beestablished to monitor the giver's purchases such that when the givergoes to Joe's to eat, the giver gets a gift credit of $5 4304. Thus asecond policy is established or triggered in which the merchant is thegift giver and the original giver is the recipient. After the gift giverpurchases something at Joe's, and the transaction is processed, $5 willbe transferred from Joe's payment account to the giver's payment accountin the same fashion as disclosed herein.

Joe's could also enhance the original recipient's gift credit by addinga percentage to it or adding a free dessert, or any other kind ofmodification to the original gift credit. All of the regifting andmonitoring principles apply here too. For example, if Joe offers theoriginal giver 44% on his or her own gift credit, the original giver canregift that and add it to the original gift credit for the originalrecipient, thus generating a $55 gift credit for the original recipient.

The merchant portal can also enable the merchant to provideadvertisements when their name is selected by a gift giver such that thegift giver is incentivized to select them for the gift credit 4306. Feescan be charged to the Merchant for placement in a particular position inthe listing of merchants, size of the name, and presentation. Themerchant can upload or link to a YouTube video. The merchant portalenables merchants to interact at a very unique circumstance on thenetwork, which is when a gift giver has chosen them to give a gift tosomeone else. The system will provide any number of mechanisms formerchants to interact with the givers to enhance their experience inselecting the merchant for the gift credit. The merchant may simply wanta “thank you!” message, or a multimedia message presented to the giftgiver 4308. Offers, such as encouraging the gift giver to limit the timeframe of the gift credit to a certain weekday, can be presented. Themerchant may always have slow Wednesdays. The gift giver or recipientcan receive an extra amount on a gift credit if the original gift creditis limited to Wednesdays.

The merchant portal can allow the merchant to tailor offers to specificcategories of customers. For example, the merchant portal can tie in tocustomer loyalty data to determine which users are frequent customersthat do not need incentivizing to return to Joe's Pizza, and can refrainfrom offering significant (and probably unnecessary) discounts to thosecustomers, or can conversely offer ‘loyalty’ discounts to those users.Further, the merchant portal can present customer analytics data to themerchant, showing which customers are trending down in visits to Joe'sPizza or are trending down in overall money spent, for example. Then,Joe can offer additional incentives to nurture these customers back tofrequent patronage, or can reach out to them with targetedindividualized offers having a custom message like “Hey Mark, we missedyou last Wednesday at lunch. Here's a coupon for $3 off next Wednesdaybetween 11:30 am and 2:00 pm.” The merchant portal can provide merchantswith the ability to target specific customers with promotions or totarget categories of customers.

The merchant portal can also enable a merchant to manage their couponsfor purchasers of coupon books. For example, the merchant can determinehow many coupons are left to be redeemed and receive businessintelligence about the individuals who still have not come to the store.The merchant could add incentives like an offering of an additional 44%discount if the High School team wins the football game. Then themerchant, if the team wins the game, could click on a field in themerchant portal to apply that additional discount to all the couponholders. Thus, the merchant portal can apply both to gift credits and tothe coupon books disclosed herein.

Thus, the merchant portal enables a merchant to essentially effect andenhance any aspect of a policy associated with purchases at their store.For example, not only can they add gift credit options to the giftcredit or other promotional offers to the giver and/or the recipient,merchants could even create their own Groupon using this approach,targeted to specific subsets of customers or to all customers. Forexample, a merchant may decide that if 20 users each give at least a $30gift credit to their store, that each of the givers and/or recipientswill receive a promotional offer such as an additional $3 on the giftcredit or a $3 gift credit to the giver and so forth. The policy alsodoes not have to be related to purchasing transactions. For example, theowner of a pizza parlor near a stadium may give an extra bonus toeverybody that has gift credits if the Washington Redskins win theirgame on a certain night and those having gift credits come in. Any typeof triggering event that could be entered into the system could beeffected by the merchant portal. Holidays, individual birthdays ofusers, manually entered data, and so forth can trigger changes in thepolicy for one or more of the people involved in a gift credit.

A service could be associated with the merchant portal in which generalbusiness intelligence is provided, such as a likely demographic, such asages 20-30, who will use their coupons on a Friday night. With thatdata, the merchant could couple such information with a promotionaloffering to a subgroup of those current coupon holders for thatmerchant. To therefore provide a targeted promotional offering, thesystem could charge the merchant a small fee, or not, to enable themerchant to send out promotional offerings to those holding coupons (orgift credits) for that merchant that are ages 20-30, for use on a Fridaynight, for an additional discount or other promotion. In this manner, anenhanced level of business analytics and intelligence aid to encouragethe right demographic to use their coupons or gift credits at a likelytime when they would anyway. Such a promotion can also be used toencourage their off-times usage to increase business at times when thedemographic is not likely to patronize the merchant. Merchants can beidentified as part of the policy governing the transactions via anetwork merchant category or a network merchant ID, or by any othermeans.

Indeed, yet another additional feature given this approach is theability of merchants to provide their own offers even independent of agift giver selecting the merchant as part of a gift credit to arecipient. For example, given that individual user's payment accountinformation is already stored in the systems database, the owner of apizza parlor may simply go to their portal and create their own policysuch as providing or generating their own group coupon. In this case,they could simply enter data that if 440 people registered with thesystem come to dinner on a particular night, each person will receive a44% off rebate. Alternatively, if 440 people registered with the systemorder Lobster for dinner, each person ordering Lobster that evening willreceive a 25% discount off that dish. In that case, users of the systemmay receive emails or some type of notification of this group discountand, without needing to pre-purchase the offer, and with or without anyneed to accept or respond to the communication, the users may simply goand have dinner, they may or not know then whether they will receive thediscount. However, if throughout the night, 440 of the users do go todinner, then the policy can kick in and each of those 440 people canreceive a 44% discount. In this regard, this can provide an improvementover the Groupon concept because users do not have to pre-purchase theGroupon prior to it becoming effective. It is a more dynamic approachwhere users may simply choose to go to that restaurant with the chanceof the policy being fulfilled based on their purchase as well as otherpeople's purchase such that they may receive the benefit of the groupdiscount.

Accordingly, the merchant portal provides numerous mechanisms ofmerchants being able to implement or effect policies associated withgift credits, group purchases, or any kind of purchase at theirestablishment that can be effected by a trigger or any type of event.One benefit of this approach is that it does not require any complicatedor staffing matter inasmuch as the merchant portal can provide all ofthe various options for triggering discounts to users who have theirpayment account information registered. The actual process of handling atransaction at the point of sale does not change, so no additionalemployee training or equipment is needed.

If the payment account is provided through a mobile device such as viaGoogle wallet, then further information can be provided to the usergiven their location or data that they are about to use their Googlewallet to make a purchase. For example, if a merchant has a 44% discountif 440 registered users of the system go to dinner that night, then ifone of the users that has not yet gone to dinner that night happens todrive near the restaurant, an advertisement can be sent that says only15 more registered users need to eat at the pizza parlor for thediscount to apply. This may encourage one of the users to go to therestaurant and eat in the hopes that 14 others will also follow totrigger the group coupon according to the policy. If a user is using amobile device to make a purchase at the restaurant and suppose that theyare the 440th registered user to make a purchase, perhaps the policycould be to provide them with an extra discount because it is theirpurchase that has caused the group coupon to be implemented. This can bea form of a contest or game to determine which customer will ‘win’ theextra discount, which can be a complete discount, i.e. free dinner.While the example herein is 440 users to purchase at the restaurant, thepromotion can be much smaller or larger, and can span a short, long, orindefinite amount of time. Thus, their mobile device may receive anextra notice or music or some other multimedia presentation thatidentifies them as the one who caused the group discount to beimplemented for the previous 439 consumers that day.

As can be appreciated, the flexibility that is provided by such amerchant portal is wide ranging and can be any combination of purchasingand/or non-purchasing related events. Personal profile data can also beused when implementing these policies. Again, if it is a particularpurchaser's birthday, that data can be implemented into the policy andcan be a triggering event to add a free desert or some other offeringfor coming to the store on that day. In this regard, the merchant portalmay enable the merchant to simply say that anybody that comes in ontheir birthday receives a $3 discount. Therefore, such a policy caneasily be implemented by the disclosed system herein because suchpersonal information can be obtained and as each registered user makespurchases at the store, the policy can be checked to see if it is theirbirthday, and if so, multimedia communication can occur if the purchaseis on a mobile device, or some other mechanism can be provided for themerchant to be able to communicate birthday wishes to the user andenhance the relationship of that particular user with the merchant. Thepolicy can also be flexible enough to provide that if the purchase iswithin one week of the user's birthday that it can also be implementedin that case even on a grading scale. For example, the farther away fromtheir birthday, the less the discount is.

Because the system knows both the giver data and the recipient data whena transaction of generating a gift credit is performed, the merchantportal enables a social-networking type of ability to engage with peoplein a way not previously provided. The social network in this caseinvolves the gift giver, merchant and recipient. Any communication(email, SMS, telephone call, multimedia presentation) can be triggeredfrom one or more of the people in this small social network associatedwith a gift credit. Facebook pages can be created, Skype videoconference calls can be scheduled and held. For example, the system maybe able to receive the data that the gift giver is giving the giftcredit to the recipient for a 25^(th) wedding anniversary gift. Themerchant, owner, or manager of the store may wish to congratulate thecouple including the gift giver. A Skype three-way video conference callcould be automatically scheduled and everyone could then talk about theevent before or after 4310. For example, a video conference or othercommunication can occur between the gift giver and the merchant, whereinthe gift giver explains to the merchant specific details, requests,and/or suggestions to enhance the wedding anniversary gift. The merchantcan then have an opportunity to develop a relationship with the peopleby personally thanking them for coming and asking if they had a greattime. Thus, the portal in which the gift giver is selecting the merchantand the recipient can present offers for other social networking type ofcommunications with the merchant and/or recipient. This provides asimple opportunity, without much work or cost on the part of themerchant, to greatly enhance the customer experience. The system canautomatically flag, for the merchant, customers which are likely torespond positively to such personalized attention, and which are likelyto be profitable or loyal customers. Because the merchant knows inadvance that a particular type of merchandise or service is to beprovided, the merchant can prepare in advance and suggest relevantaccessories, add-ons, or enhancements to the gift. For example, if thewedding anniversary gift is a specifically styled ring, the merchant canarrange to offer a discount on a matching tennis bracelet or otheraccessory. The merchant portal can provide insight into the preferencesand predilections of the customers in advance to help the merchantdetermine what types of ‘upgrades’ to offer and at what discounts, ifany. A specific video presentation can be transmitted to an iPhone towelcome the user as they arrive at the store.

Merchants can also create unique policies. They may want to give anincentive just for having someone come into their store. The policy canbe location based or activity based and not simply purchase based 4312.For example, a real-estate agency or a merchant selling time-shares inFla. may want to reward users who simply come and peruse real-estatelistings or listen to a time-share presentation.

In yet another aspect, the group coupon can be offered dynamically. Forexample, the merchant may be able to set out various parameters on howmuch the discount should be. The simple example above is that if 440users come in and purchase dinner tonight, then each one receives a 44%discount. However, a variable component of this might be where each ofthe first 430 purchasers receives a 44% discount but a gradual scalewill occur for the last 44 such that the 440^(th) purchaser receivestheir meal free. In a contest or promotion such as this, the order ofcustomers becomes important. Thus, the system can determine ordering ofthe 440 purchasers based on arrival time, ordering time, and/or the timeof the transaction. Notices can be provided to the users if desired totell them where they might fall in the variable coupon offerings. Thus,the 431^(st) purchaser might receive a 15% discount, the next purchasermay receive a 20% discount and so on. In addition, the policy may befluid to the extent such that the system can monitor the restaurants orstores overall performance that night. Thus, if the restaurant alreadyhas a lot of business that night then the offering may be reduced sinceadditional business is not necessarily needed. Thus, the particularoffering and the discount provided for purchasers can be more tied toreal time business needs and activities. These promotions can roll over,such that every 440^(th) purchase on a Friday night is free, forexample.

This provides another distinguishing feature from the Groupon approachinasmuch as Groupon typically provides one offering for an entirecommunity per day. The approach disclosed herein can provide a singlemerchant based offering in which individual merchants can havesimultaneous offerings in the community. The system can referee betweenvarious offerings such that users are not inundated. However, themerchant portal approach herein enables individual merchants to easilytailor their own offerings that can further be specifically tied totheir actual business performance at any given moment.

The merchant portal principles set forth herein can be applied to gift,coupons, and/or coupon books. A unified merchant portal can allowmerchants to manage all policy-based promotions, gifts, and offers in asingle destination. The exact functionality and options provided to themerchant for managing gifts, Groupons, coupon books, etc. may vary. Thesame merchant portal can provide insight into customer analytics,purchasing patterns, and advertising campaigns associated with thepolicy-based transactions. Thus, a merchant could receive analyticaldata indicating that it is likely that the demographic of ages 20-30 whohave coupons will likely spend them on a Saturday afternoon and evening.The merchant could then provide offerings to that demographic such thatthe use of those coupons by that demographic will include an additional5% discount. Thus, the merchant offerings can be tailored to aparticular subgroup of all owners of a coupon in the system.

User Interface

FIG. 44 illustrates another example of user interface for givers tointeract with for purchasing gift credits for recipients. The policy canbe put in place to apply discounts, coupons, promotions, and/or otherpurchaser or giver benefits according to tags or categories ofmerchants. For example, a user can search in a browser 4400 formerchants by product category, such as ‘consumer electronics’ which mayinclude merchants that specialize in consumer electronics such as BestBuy and RadioShack as well as other merchants that carry a limitedselection of consumer electronics such as Target or Home Depot 4402. Thesystem can access a database of merchants, nationwide and local, as wellas corresponding merchant tags for specific product categories, targetdemographics, price range, and so forth. A merchant can be assignedmultiple tags. The user can search merchants by tag, but select aspecific subset of merchants for which the policy is active.

The system identifies a group of merchants that satisfy the category,then generates a policy for when the recipient makes a purchase at anyone of that group of merchants. Merchants can tag their store with tagsidentifying part of the category 4314. For example, a merchant can login to an interface 4300 or otherwise update the database to reflectchanges or additions to their product line-up 4316. Further, users canadd, remove, and update tags assigned to merchants. The tags can varyover time.

In addition to searching by tag or by specific merchant, users cansearch by region 4404. A user can search for merchants by category ortag in a local region or nationwide. For example, the user can searchfor and select a gift for any pizza place in downtown Salt Lake City, orcan select a gift to any Godfathers Pizza nationwide. In this manner,users can tailor a search in any geographical area such as nationwide,regional, local or even in a neighborhood. The ability for merchants tobe able to tag data about their store can enable users to have alocalized search but is otherwise not possible. In addition tomerchant-generated tags, users can generate and assign tags to specificstores. For example, a user can tag a restaurant as “fast service” or“friendly wait staff”. Then other users can search for merchants byuser-entered tags to ensure that the policy associated with a gift willbe applied to stores having at least a simple majority of ‘positive’tags or some other criteria.

The system can provide an interface for merchants 4300 to intercept and‘hijack’ gifts or promotions intended for competitors. For example, if auser has a policy in place offering $5 off a purchase of $20 or more atDomino's Pizza, Godfathers Pizza can offer the user an improved offer toentice the user away from Domino's, such as $8 off a purchase of $20 ormore. Godfathers Pizza can indicate which types of users or which usercharacteristics are worth how much. For example, Godfathers may considera consumer that eats pizza twice a week as more valuable, and can offerthat type of user a steeper discount in order to tempt him to tryswitching from a competitor. In a particularly intense rivalry, amerchant can offer a policy that offers to intercept competitor'spromotion or coupon policies and offer to customers promotions thatprovide a larger discount, for example. In one aspect, ‘hijacking’ giftsor promotions is an option that is allowed or disallowed by the giftgiver and/or by the recipient of a gift. For example, a gift giver maywant the recipient to go to a particular store, and so may disallow‘hijacking’. In another example, the recipient of the gift is a starvingcollege student who wants to maximize the return or value for moneyspent and is not loyal to any particular merchant. This recipient cansubscribe to competitors offers to ‘hijack’ the gift to shop around andsee which merchant will offer the steepest discount.

The system can provide an analytics portal 4318 for merchants to viewacceptance rate for coupons or promotions associated with a policy, aswell as follow through rates of using the coupons or promotionsaccording to the policy. The analytics portal can provide detailedinsights into virtually every aspect of customer purchases, types ofpolicies in force, trends in purchases and redemption of policies,advertising, customer preferences, currently ongoing promotioncampaigns, and so forth. Merchants can compare their analytics data toanonymized aggregated data from other merchants in similar industries,or even direct competitors.

In the analytics portal 4318, merchants can also manage specific giverand recipient offers for individual users, groups of users, and/or forall users. Merchants can manage and establish payments and guidelinesfor advertising to users. Merchants can also manage settings for sendingautomatic or manually triggered ‘thank you’ messages for users that havetaken advantage of a policy. For instance, a store manager for arestaurant can receive a periodic notification of customers who haverecently applied a policy to a purchase or other triggering event suchas just being in a store. The system can generate automatic suggested‘thank you’ messages for these customers, and the manager can customizethe suggested messages for the specific customers. Merchants can includemedia such as video, audio, and images in their ‘thank you’ messages forbranding or other purposes.

A merchant can manage the frequency of sending reminders to users havingoutstanding policies eligible for that merchant, and optional additionalenhancements or promotions to those outstanding policies to encourageusers to make purchases at the merchant that trigger the policy.

In one aspect, merchants can, through the merchant portal interface4300, pay for priority placement in search results 4320. For example, amerchant can pay a premium to appear first in search results for allqueries, for a particular query or keyword, for a particular demographicof searchers, for a particular region, at a particular time of day ortime of year, and so forth.

FIG. 44 illustrates an example of a listing 4406 of search results. Inthis listing, Joe's electronics could have paid a premium to appearfirst for a search in the category of electronics in southern Maryland.The price for prime placement in search results can be based on thenumber of competitors bidding for placement, how much customers spend onaverage for the category in which the placement is desired, and soforth. Merchants can pay for placement for a specific duration, for aspecific number of searches, or for a specific number of purchased giftsor promotions, for example.

The system can establish a persistent temporary social network involvingthe merchant before, during, and/or after the purchase. For example, thesocial network can enable communications, chat, comments, and othersocial interactions relating to the policy, the giver, the recipient,and/or the merchant. In one example, the merchant can enable a videochat at the point of purchase between the gift giver and the recipient,so that the three can participate in the moment of redeeming the giftenabled by the policy. Video chat on a mobile device can occur as well.Where the triggering event is location based, the system can enablethese additional social networking capabilities.

The system can charge fees for providing each piece of these servicesavailable through the merchant portal as a package or on an a la cartebasis.

Further, merchant portals 4300 can be regionalized. For example, OliveGarden can have a corporate level portal for managing nationwidepolicies, promotions, and merchant settings, in addition to regionaland/or individual store owner portals. Thus, if a user browses to give agift to another user for a specific Olive Garden, then the system canprovide promotions and specials from the national corporate levellayered on top of the region and/or the individual store level. In thisway, specific stores or regions can offer layers of national, regional,and/or local incentives to users to give gifts or purchase coupons ordiscounts for a specific store or set of stores over other stores in thechain.

FIG. 45 illustrates an example method embodiment for enabling merchantsto provide promotions. The method includes receiving data from giftgiver at a first-time, the data being used to identify a merchant atwhich a gift from the gift giver to recipient is redeemable (4502). Thesystem presents a group of merchants associated with the data to thegift giver and each merchant of the group of merchants offers apromotion in connection with the gift (4504). The system receives fromthe gift giver a selection of a chosen merchant from the group ofmerchants with the chosen merchants having an associated promotion(4506). The system generates a policy including the gift, the chosenmerchant and the associated promotion (4508). The policy in this casenot only includes the standard gift amount, the chosen merchant dataabout the recipient, but it also includes the associated promotion. Uponreceiving an indication of a triggering event caused by the recipient,the system applies the gift and the associated promotion to the purchaseaccording to the policy (4510). In one aspect, the gift has anassociated amount of money that is drawn from a giver payment account.The giver payment account can be independent of the recipient paymentaccount. Further, the giver account and the recipient account both existprior to the first time. Thus, two friends, each with existing paymentaccounts of some type, can participate in this process using thoseexisting payment accounts.

One example of a triggering event is that the recipient made a purchaseat the chosen merchant using a recipient payment account. When thesystem presents the group of merchants, it can pre-sort to group by atleast one of location, price, promotional offerings and similarity tothe data. The group of merchants can include a competitor to aparticular merchant. The placement of one merchant in the group ofmerchants can be determined based in part on a payment from the at leastone merchant. In another aspect, the chosen merchant includes a categoryof merchants and in another aspect the category merchants can sharecommon characteristics. Examples of common characteristics include atleast one of the price range, a product or product category, a specificproduct, a location, a franchise, and the manual selection by the giftgiver. The triggering events can be purchases made by a recipientaccount using a debit or credit card, a Google wallet, and a location ofmobile devices. Other trigger events can be location-based ornon-purchasing events such as news information, political information,weather data, sports data and so forth. Any source of external data canbe utilized as a triggering event. The policy can be broad enough andflexible enough to encompass any triggering event.

Merchant Promotions for Interactions

FIG. 46 illustrates yet another method embodiment. Assume that Mary hasa gift credit purchased for $50 at Olive Garden, and thus a policyexists which is monitoring a triggering event such as her being at anOlive Garden restaurant, or making a purchase using her existing paymentaccount at the Olive Garden. One triggering event (4600), such as anidentification that Mary is at the Olive Garden through a location-basedservice which tracks her iPhone, independent of any purchase, can causethe system to engage in a dialog with the user (4602). Questions can betransmitted to her iPhone. These can be of any type and could includesuggestions for purchasing lunch or dinner. An additional offering canbe provided if they answer the questions. For example, the system and/orthe merchant could offer an additional $5 to the gift credit if theyanswer three questions. Any type of interaction is contemplated here.Perhaps if the user views a short video, then the boost to the gift isoffered. The recipient Mary of the gift, could be asked if they want toreceive additional promotions when they are at the merchant location(the merchant associated with the gift credit). The recipient could alsoopt in to receive notifications if they are at a competitor's locationor at any location. The system could ask for additional information toenable this interaction. For example, the system can ask for the user'stelephone number or other identifying data if necessary such that whentheir location triggers the process, the system can text, or call, orutilize that identification data to ask the questions or present theinteraction. Then, if the recipient engages in the required interaction,then the system will add the promotion to their existing gift for thatmerchant (4604).

Thus, in one example, assume that Mary gets a gift credit from John forthe Olive Garden and included in that gift is an invitation topotentially receive additional promotions when she is at the restaurant.She then goes to the restaurant with her mobile device. The systemdetects that she is at the right location and engages in an interactionsuch as asking questions, running a brief promotional ad for theirspecials that night, or otherwise presents an interaction with her. Itcan even be an interaction on a device at a restaurant table or otherdevice at the restaurant besides Mary's mobile device. Such a merchantdevice can be any device at the merchant which can present aninteraction to the user. The recipient device is typically a mobiledevice carried by the gift recipient that can also be used to presentinteractions. The recipient could even order their meal on their mobiledevice or a device at the table or elsewhere. Mary fulfills therequirement of the interaction and thus the system presents her with apromotion such as a free desert, an extra $3 on her gift for thepurchase, and so forth. The interactions can be inter-personalinteractions with a waiter, for example, which the waiter enters into apoint of sale device or other merchant device on behalf of the customer.In another variation, the interactions are interactions on a paperreceipt, such as survey questions or other questions, which the userfills out with pen and paper, and which are reported or recorded by themerchant.

Then, assume that Mary's meal is $55 . When Mary purchases the mealusing her existing payment account, then the system not only processesthe $50 gift credit from John, but also one or more promotions from thesystem and/or the merchant (4606). If it is an additional $3 promotion,then $3 would be transferred from a merchant account to Mary's paymentaccount. Any type of promotion is contemplated. Implementing thepromotion can involve modifying the policy over the gift for the OliveGarden to add money from another account, or in any other fashion modifythat policy to implement the promotion. It can also include a hybrid ofmoney offerings, later coupons, free deserts or a free second meal, andso forth. A system separate from the merchant can offer this service andthen charge a merchant a fee for the service. The promotion can be a $10discount from their next meal at the Olive Garden. In this case, thepolicy that governs Mary's gift for the Olive Garden can simply bemodified such that $10 is added to her gift for purchases at the OliveGarden. These provide an incentive and an opportunity for merchants toengage in a personal interaction with their customers while at the storeusing their mobile devices or a merchant device and can greatly enhancethe customer experience and loyalty.

The promotions and associated required interactions can be targeted toall users, specific users, or randomly selected users. For example, themerchant can indicate that every 1,000^(th) customer should receive a50% discount in exchange for providing feedback on the merchantexperience as well as some level of demographic information. Themerchant can target interactions at new customers, at users who are in asocial graph of at least two other regular customers, at customers whospend at least a minimum amount of money or who have a minimum number ofpeople in their party, and so forth. Further, the system can vary thetype and quantity of the interactions requested from the user based ontransaction information, a user profile, analytics goals, socialnetworking data, and so forth.

The customer can provide all or part of the requested feedback as partof the interaction, and the completeness of the feedback can determinethe extent of the promotion. For example, if the customer answers ⅔ ofthe questions associated with the interaction, the system can apply ⅔ ofthe promotion. The user could engage in answering questions or playing agame, such that their success in the game is tied proportionally to theamount of additional discount or benefit they receive. The user can playall or part of these games on a smartphone or other mobile device. Thegame can offer rewards that enhance a gift or a promotion associatedwith a coupon by simply modifying the policy. For example, each user canspin a wheel on a virtual screen, which is unlocked based on location(i.e. the mobile device indicating a location within or near to themerchant). When the wheel stops spinning at a particular ‘slot’ orregion, that slot or region indicates a bonus, such as an extra $5 off,or free breadsticks, or $10 off your next visit. Then the system canmodify the existing policy to implement the wheel spinning prize or cancreate a new policy. The games can span multiple users and mobiledevices. For example, a merchant establishes a trivia test game for aparticular day. All users with coupons (or all users with capable mobiledevices) can take the trivia test on that particular day, either ontheir mobile device or on a merchant-provided device, such as a kiosk orother device at tables in a restaurant (which can be separate orintegrated into a table, for example). At the end of the day, theuser(s) with the highest score in the trivia test receive a discount orpromotion either on their previous purchase, via a policy, or on afuture purchase. This approach can be applied to any kind ofsingle-player or multi-player game. This approach enhances the sense ofcommunity and camaraderie of customers, and makes the user experience atthe merchant more ‘sticky’ so users have positive feelings, and a desireto return and patronize the merchant.

Tying in to Customer Loyalty Programs

Many merchants, such as grocery stores, offer loyalty or rewardsprograms. For example, a grocery store can offer a 5 cent discount pergallon on gas purchases to customers that spend at least $100 at thegrocery store. Customers may earn points via making purchases at thegrocery store which can then be redeemed for groceries or gas. Thegrocery store can have its own gas pump nearby or can partner with aseparate gas station company to provide such benefits. In some cases,extra points are offered in the rewards program for specific purchases.For example, one grocery store offers a multiplier to reward points(such as 4× the normal amount) for purchases of physical gift creditsfor participating gift credits. For example, for every $10 gift creditpurchase at the store, the purchaser gets 40 points. For every $25 giftcredit purchase, the user gets 440 points and one 44 cent per gallonfuel reward. This arrangement provides one way for a merchant to maketheir establishment more attractive to consumers by allowing them toaccomplish two tasks, i.e. grocery shopping and filling up with gas, inone destination.

A problem with the existing rewards program for buying gift cards isthat one must go to the store and buy a physical gift card. This methodrequires the expense of printing and generating the separate gift cardsthat are just thrown away after they are used or they can be lost andthus the value not redeemed. One way to enhance the existing arrangementis to offer policy-based gift credits of the type disclosed herein toconsumers while they are at the pump. Many grocery stores already offertraditional gift cards for sale, so the target audience is alreadyfamiliar with gift cards and is susceptible to purchasing gift cards.One way to provide loyalty rewards or discounts at the gas pump is totrack ‘points’ earned by purchases that a customer can use for discountson gas or on future grocery purchases. The grocery stores can offeradditional points for buying gift cards through the grocery store. Theconcept of policy-based gift credits can be applied to this scenario,with the grocery stores being ‘resellers’ of policy-based gift credits.While merchants can ‘resell’ physical gift cards, they do not need topurchase and stock inventory of policy-based gift credits and are thusnot ‘resellers’ in the strictest sense.

In one example, a user purchases a policy-based gift credit at a gaspump point of sale associated with a grocery store, and the gas pumppoint of sale can serve dual purpose of facilitating the purchase of gasas well as the purchase of the gift credit. The user can enter theirloyalty or rewards information as part of the transaction, such as byentering their phone number or by swiping or scanning a loyalty card.The user also pays with their credit card, debit card or othermechanism. Therefore, the system can utilize the reward program data,with the giver's payment account data, in addition to receiving the giftcredit recipient data, to establish the policy for fulfilling the giftcredit and rewarding the giver via the rewards program. The gift creditcan be associated with purchases at one or more merchants, such asselected merchants that pay for inclusion. In exchange for the userpurchasing the gift credit, the system can adjust the price of the gasdown in real time. For example, the grocery store and gas pump can run apromotion where for every $25 worth of gift credits purchased, thecustomer receives an additional 44-cent discount off the current gaspurchase.

In one example, assume the user buys a $100 Home Depot gift credit atthe gas pump. At the pump, the user can interact with the point of saledisplay and inputs on the gas pump, or can interact with a mobile devicesuch as a smart phone or tablet to see a list of participating merchantsfor gift credits. The system receives the payment account data of thepurchaser, reward program data for a rebate on gas, and the recipientdata. Upon making the purchase, the gas pump point of sale canautomatically apply a discount to the price per gallon for gas. If theuser makes the purchase in the grocery store, the system canautomatically apply or deposit points in the user's loyalty rewardsprogram account that are eligible for use at the gas pump or for otherdiscounts or promotions. Since the gift credits as disclosed herein arenot separate physical gift cards, a purchase in the grocery store can beaccomplished via a grocery store display such as at the self-checkoutpoint of sale or at the manned checkout isle. A display can present aninquiry asking “do you want any gift credits today?” The user may havealready entered in their rewards number and swiped a card associatedwith their payment account. The user can then electronically pick a giftcredit for the Olive Garden, or Home Depot, and quickly identify theamount and the recipient as well. The display can be connected to a backend server that provides the ability to tailor the filtering andfocusing of potential recipients. For example, when the user slidestheir card or enters their rewards data, the system can then know whothe user is and have data that can narrow the likely recipients of giftcredits. The user can then simply enter the basic data, pick arecipient, and commit to the gift credit. The grocery store can thenprocess the purchase and add the $50 gift credit to the grocerypurchase, plus any other fees, and add the enhancement to the rewardsprogram accordingly. Thus, electronically, all of the goals of thepurchase are met without the need for a physical gift card. Further, allof the benefits of the gift credit as set forth herein are met.

FIG. 47 illustrates a method embodiment according to the descriptionabove. At a point of sale device which includes a display that thepurchaser can interact with, the system will receive informationidentifying the user (4700). This information can be a reward programnumber, a payment account information such as a credit card or debitcard and PIN, a fingerprint, or any other identifying data. The systemthen knows the person and can provide a personalized interaction forpurchasing a gift credit through the display. The interactive display inone embodiment can be the purchaser's home computer or a mobile deviceand not a point of sale device. The system presents an offer to thepurchaser to buy a gift credit (4702). The display can say “John Doe,welcome to Safeway. Would you like to buy a gift card for your Mother'sBirthday next week?” The system then receives data via the displayassociated with the gift credit (4704). The user can provide the amount(say $50), the merchant (Olive Garden, Home Depot) and the recipient.Since the system knows the purchaser, the identification of therecipient can be accomplished through a narrowed search. For example,since the system knows the person at the point of sale, theirpersonalized contact list can be presented. Predictive data such asfriends and/or family in their social network that have birthdays oranniversaries in the next two months could be presented. The system willknow of the user's purchasing history as well. The offer can say “John,do you want to buy an Olive Garden $50 gift credit for your mother'sbirthday next week? Last year you bought her an Olive Garden Gift Cardand her feedback said she loved it. Click here to accept, and you willalso get 4× your rewards points for a gas purchase at the grocerystore.” The user will provide information in one several different waysto identify the recipient of the gift credit as part of the data. If apredetermined set of data for a gift credit is provided as in theexample above, the user can in one click accept the offer. For example,in one click, John could purchase a $50 gift credit for the Olive Gardenfor his mother, and optionally also receive rewards on John's rewardprogram. The display can also present other personal data such as apicture of his mother redeeming the previously given gift credit or themessage his mother gave as feedback for the card. The display could alsotap into wish lists of friend or others in a social network, and receivedata on other suggested gift credits which have additional offers orprovide a variety when compared with previous purchases. Users couldalso get extra bonuses for buying the gift credits in bulk. The displaycan present an offer from a merchant to buy two gift credits for BedBath and Beyond as the holidays are approaching. Because of the bulkpurchase, extra rewards or discounts are provided to the gift giver. Agrandmother may have presented to her, on the display, to buy the samegift credit for Toys R Us for each of her twelve grandchildren. This canbe presented in a compact format such as “Joan, here is a picture ofyour grandchildren, would you like to buy a $20 Toys R Us gift creditfor each of them?” The grouping of recipients can be a list, acharacterization (“your three best friends” or “your four children”), apicture of a group of people, or a suggested list of recipients. Thiscan simplify and speed up the process of purchasing the gift credit at amerchant point of sale or on another computing device, such as a gaspump, an ATM, in your car at a stoplight, a smartphone, and so forth.Just as set forth above, it is assumed that the recipient has a paymentaccount in the system such that they can redeem the gift credit via apurchase or other triggering mechanism, independent of a physical giftinstrument. The system then implements a benefit through the rewardsprogram for the purchaser (4706) and establishes the policy for the giftcredit in the normal fashion (4708).

The system will then have all of the necessary data to accomplish thefollowing: (1) providing rewards to the purchaser for the purchase ofthe gift credit at the particular merchant; (2) establishing a policyfor the gift credit as disclosed herein; and (3) enabling the purchaserto receive additional discounts such as on gas or other purchasesthrough the rewards program of the merchant. The point of sale with aninteractive display can be at a gas station pump, check out station,self-checkout station, in an isle of the grocery store, or in anylocation. If the purchase is at a gas pump, the need for a rewardsnumber can be eliminated. Thus, the “reward” or the discount couldsimply apply to a current purchase of a separate item or service that isassociated with the gift credit. This approach can simplify the processwhere while the user has 3 minutes of time while pumping gas, theinteractive display can present the options of buying gift credits forrecipients. If the user purchases a gift credit at that time, a discountwill be provided for the gas being currently pumped. Thus, in any of thescenarios disclosed herein, the need for the rewards program can beoptional. Indeed, the rewards program can be tied to the giver's creditcard. For example, if the purchaser buys a gift credit at the grocerystore, without being a member of a rewards program for that grocerystore, the system could provide a discount on gas if the giver purchasesgas later using that same payment account. In this manner, a “policy”could be established for that credit card which monitors those purchasesand when a gas purchase is made, the discount is provided. The benefitof this approach is that when the user buys gas they do not need toprovide a telephone number or other identifying information for theirrewards program. In this way, the system can engage users right at thepump to enable users to buy a policy-based gift credit for anotherperson or for themselves and get the discount instantaneously.

The user could even make purchases in this manner on their own computeror mobile device. In this scenario, the user may simply be at home andbe able to make a purchase of a gift credit while also having anopportunity to enter in their grocery store club card data to receivereward points for an additional discount on gas or discount on furthergrocery purchases. This enables participating stores to provideincreased incentives to encourage purchasers to come to their brick andmortar store when making on-line gift credit purchases as disclosedherein.

Commercial Payments Through Gift Credits

In another example, people can opt to be paid through the use of a giftcredit having an associated policy as disclosed herein. For example, ifa person performs a job and desires to be paid for that job, theprinciples disclosed herein can be utilized as a method to enable themto be paid in a novel manner. As an example, consider John who hasearned $800 as a contractor for completing a project for the ACMEcompany. John, rather than receiving a check, desires to maximize thepotential ease and benefit of receiving money by being paid through agift credit connected to his debit or credit card. In this scenario,John could either request a direct payment to his payment account or asa reimbursement for a purchase that he is going to make. For example,John could essentially make himself of a gift credit of the typedisclosed herein. If John is to be paid $800, John may know that hedesires to make an $800 purchase of a pair of skis. He may be able toseek a promotion or identify a discount at a merchant and be able tocreate his own gift credit. In this case, he could request from the ACMEcompany that they reimburse him for a purchase of the pair of skis atREI. A graphical user interface can be presented such that the ACMEcompany is able to present the recipient with a mechanism of opting tobe paid via the use of a gift credit. In this case, John could requestthat a gift credit be given to him from the company for $800 to be usedat REI. Then, to “be paid” by the ACME company, John would simply go andmake his $800 purchase of the skis at REI at which point, the system asdisclosed herein would monitor the John's purchases such that after thepurchase is made, he would be reimbursed for $800 of the purchase.

A benefit of this approach could be that John may make himself foreligible for promotions or other offers or discounts by choosing to be arecipient of the gift credit in this manner. Plus, it gives therecipient flexibility in being able to choose the entity, item or basispolicy parameters of a gift credit that is going to be given to them.Thus, all of the associated benefits that can be offered through a giftcredit program can enable John to not only receive the $800 for beingpaid for the work of the ACME company, but he may be able to receive anadditional $50 in promotions or discounts which me otherwise may not beable to receive if he were simply making the purchase of the skisindependent of the context of using the gift credit. In this respect,being able to make commercial payments like expense credits provides anadditional functionality and opportunity for additional promotions andbranding that otherwise may not be available through a standard approachto making a commercial payment from a company to a contractor or anemployee.

In addition, companies may be able to easily offer benefits to theiremployees by enabling them to have their payment accounts available to asystem that enables them to receive and create their own gift credits asrecipients for bonuses and other offers from their companies. Such anapproach could become a standard way for additional gift credits to beable to be processed in the system which easily enables recipients andgiver individuals or companies alike to be eligible for other promotionsand discounts. As with other disclosures set forth above, the entitygiving such a gift credit, such as the ACME company in this case, wouldalso be available to receive promotions in which the giving entity couldhave a policy associated with purchases that they may make which alsoconstitute a secondary gift credit for the giver as part of thetransaction of generating a gift credit for the recipient.

FIG. 48 illustrates a fourth example method embodiment related to giverpromotions. In this example, the policy governing a gift from a giftgiver to a recipient further includes an associated promotion which canbe applied to the qualifying purchase. Thus, the policy governs not onlyrecognition of a qualifying transaction, but also identifies apromotion, or which promotion, can apply to the transaction. Thepromotion can be applied directly at the merchant point of sale such asa price discount, or can be applied completely independently of thetransaction at the merchant, such as an additional amount of moneyapplied to the gift. The promotion can be governed by the same policyrules as the qualifying transaction, or the promotions can havedifferent policy rules which may be in addition to the policy rulesgoverning the qualifying transaction. For example, the primary policycan provide $50 to be applied to purchases at Target, and the promotionpolicy can further indicate that if the transaction is over $100 andcontains at least $40 of groceries that an additional $20 will beapplied to the purchase. In these examples, the giver promotion isenabled because the giver either has some preferred relationship withthe merchant associated with the policy, or because the giver is themerchant associated with the policy. While this method embodiment isdiscussed in terms of a worker and a payer, the same principles can beapplied to any transaction in which the giver is either a merchant orassociated with a merchant. Further, in another variation, the payer isa merchant of a family of merchants such as a restaurant chain, acorporation that owns several different store brands, or a looselyaffiliated group of stores such as a guild of stores in a shopping mall.Then, the policy can cover purchases made in these groups of merchants.

The system receives, at a first time, an identification of a payer, apayment, a payment amount, a worker receiving the payment, wherein theworker is associated with rendering services for the payer in exchangefor the payment, wherein the payer is associated with a payer paymentaccount including a credit or debit account existing prior to the firsttime, and the worker is associated with a worker payment account,including a credit or debit account existing prior to the first time,wherein the payer payment account and the worker payment account areindependent of each other and have no control over each other, andwherein the payer is a merchant (4802). The system associates a policywith the payment, wherein the policy is at least in part payer defined,wherein the policy applies to purchases made at the payer, and whereinthe policy indicates a promotion to be applied to purchases made at thepayer (4804). The system monitors, according to the policy and at asecond time which is later than the first time, purchases made at thepayer using the worker payment account to yield purchasing information(4806). Based on the purchasing information, the system determineswhether the worker has made a qualifying purchase using the workerpayment account according to the policy (4808). When the qualifyingpurchase has occurred, the system applies at least part of the paymentand the promotion to the qualifying purchase (4810). As an example,Mario contracts to do plumbing work for a grocery store. The grocerypays Mario for the plumbing work with $300 subject to a policy limitedto purchases made at the grocery store, but providing an additionalpromotion on top of the $300 dollars. The promotion can even be dynamic,changing over time or based on some other circumstances or information.Thus, to receive the payment, Mario simply shops at the grocery store,and the system automatically applies the promotion to the purchases, ifapplicable. In other scenarios, the gifts are not considered paymentsfor services rendered, and are simply gifts, such as gift certificates,rewards, or various other promotions provided by the merchant.

FIG. 49 illustrates a fifth example method embodiment related tocommercial payments. This is an example where a worker receives paymentfor a service rendered from a payer subject to a policy. As set forthabove, this can be advantageous because it is automatically applied toan existing account and is simpler than receiving a paper check, signingthe check, and driving to the bank to cash or deposit the check. Thesystem receives, at a first time, an identification of a payer, apayment, a payment amount, a worker receiving the payment, wherein theworker is associated with rendering services for the payer in exchangefor the payment, wherein the payer is associated with a payer paymentaccount including a credit or debit account existing prior to the firsttime, and the worker is associated with a worker payment account,including a credit or debit account existing prior to the first time,and wherein the payer payment account and the worker payment account areindependent of each other and have no control over each other (4902).The system associates a policy with the payment, wherein the policy isat least in part payer defined (4904). The system monitors, according tothe policy and at a second time which is later than the first time,purchases made using the worker payment account to yield purchasinginformation (4906). Based on the purchasing information, the systemdetermines whether the worker has made a qualifying purchase using theworker payment account according to the policy (4908). When thequalifying purchase has occurred, the system applies at least part ofthe payment to the qualifying purchase (4910). As an example, Mariocontracts to do plumbing work for a grocery store. The grocery store canpay Mario for the plumbing work with a gift of $300 that applies topurchases made at the grocery store. Thus, Mario does not have to makeany additional effort to be receive payment, such as cashing a check orprocessing a credit card, and simply makes his regular purchases at thegrocery store. Additionally, the grocery store receives a benefitbecause it only pays for the cost of the goods purchased, but receivesbenefit equal to the retail price of those goods. Because of thisdifference, the grocery store can potentially offer Mario a largerpayment than if the payment were made via cash, check, or credit/debitcard.

FIG. 50 illustrates a sixth example method embodiment related to apolicy with multiple redemption options. In this example, the systemreceives, at a first time, an identification of a payer, a payment, apayment amount, a worker receiving the payment, wherein the worker isassociated with rendering services for the payer in exchange for thepayment, wherein the payer is associated with a payer payment accountincluding a credit or debit account existing prior to the first time,and the worker is associated with a worker payment account, including acredit or debit account existing prior to the first time, wherein thepayer payment account and the worker payment account are independent ofeach other and have no control over each other, and wherein the payer isa merchant (5002). The system associates a policy with the payment,wherein the policy is at least in part payer defined, wherein a firstvariation of the policy applies to purchases made at the payer andindicates a promotion, and wherein a second variation of the policyapplies to purchases made at other merchants (5004). The systemmonitors, according to the policy and at a second time which is laterthan the first time, purchases made at the payer using the workerpayment account to yield purchasing information (5006). Based on thepurchasing information, the system determines whether the worker hasmade a qualifying purchase using the worker payment account according tothe policy, and determine whether the qualifying purchase falls underthe first variation or the second variation (5008). When the qualifyingpurchase has occurred under the first variation, the system can apply atleast part of the payment and the promotion to the qualifying purchase(5010), and when the qualifying purchase has occurred under the secondvariation, the system can apply at least part of the payment to thequalifying purchase without the promotion (5012). As another example,Mario contracts to do plumbing work for a grocery store. The grocerystore pays Mario for the plumbing work with a gift of $300 that appliesto purchases made at any grocery store, but the gift is valued at $350at the grocery store where Mario did the work. Thus, the grocery storecan incentivize Mario's repeat business by offering him additional moneyto shop at the grocery store over others, and Mario receives a perceivedadditional benefit or bonus pay for the work performed. This embodimentcan also be applied to scenarios in which the gift is a gift and notpayment for services rendered.

In another aspect, the method can include receiving, via the Internet, aregistration of a recipient payment account at a service provider, therecipient payment account being associated with a recipient andreceiving, from an entity, an identification of the recipient and aspending category, the recipient payment account being registered withthe service provider prior to the receiving of the identification. Theentity can be a person, a business, or any entity. The method caninclude generating, via the service provider, a policy comprising a giftcredit and the spending category, wherein the policy is at least in partdefined by the entity and wherein the policy can be linked to therecipient payment account, and transmitting, via a processor of acomputing device and via a communication channel, an electronic noticeto a recipient device, the electronic notice referencing the policy andcan be linked to the recipient payment account. The method includesmonitoring, via a processor of a computing device, purchasingtransactions made using the recipient payment account via a paymentprocessing system for a qualified purchase according to the policy and,based on the qualified purchase, applying, via a processor of acomputing device, the gift credit. The spending category can be at leastone of a network merchant identification or a network merchant category.

The method can further include receiving an initial amount of money froman entity account associated with the entity into a service provideraccount, wherein the gift credit can be drawn from the initial amount ofmoney. The gift credit can be transferred to the recipient paymentaccount and can be determined by comparing an initial amount of moneyreceived from the entity to a purchase amount associated with thequalified purchase. If the purchase amount is less than the initialamount of money, then the gift credit transferred to the recipientpayment account can be a full amount of the qualified purchase. If thepurchase amount is more than the initial amount of money, then the giftcredit transferred is the initial amount of money.

The method can further include charging the recipient payment accountfor the qualified purchase and reimbursing the recipient payment accountwhen the qualified purchase appears on a transaction history of therecipient payment account. In another aspect, the method can includecharging a percentage of an initial amount of money provided by theentity as a service fee for using the service provider. One of theentity, the recipient and a third party can be charged the percentage ofthe initial amount of money. In another aspect, the spending categorycan include one of an individual point of sale, a chain of stores, and aplurality of businesses in a same industry. A third party can also paysat least a portion of an initial amount of money which funds the giftcredit.]

Local Product Enhancement

FIG. 51 illustrates an example method embodiment for local productenhancements. Local product enhancements can be based around a singlepayment account, such as an account tied to a credit or debit account,that is accepted as payment at multiple local merchants that are part ofa gift network. The gift administering system can reward consumers forfrequenting merchants in the network. For example, the system can emailspecial offers to consumers. The system can track buying habits ofconsumers and can tailor offers or promotions or advertising targeted tomerchants the consumers frequent most or that the system determineswould be of interest to the consumer. For example, if similar consumersfrequently visit merchant X, then this consumer may also like merchantX. The network can extend to or cooperate with networks in other cities.For example, if a consumer purchases a reloadable card, the consumer canuse that card multiple cities. This approach is convenient for consumerswho travel between locations with participating merchants, because theconsumer can use the same card. The system can also provide games,badges, accomplishments, or achievements for the users to earn or play.Earning a particular achievement or status can unlock additionalbenefits, discounts, promotions, etc.

A system configured to practice the example method embodiment receivesan identification of a gift giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay forthe gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giveris associated with a giver payment account, including a credit paymentaccount or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time, andthe recipient is associated with a recipient payment account, includinga credit payment account or a debit payment account existing prior tothe first time, and wherein the giver payment account and the recipientpayment account are independent of each other and have no control overeach other (5100). The system can associate a policy with the gift,wherein the policy is at least in part giver defined (5102). The systemcan initiate, at the first time, a transfer of at least part of theamount of money to pay for the gift from the giver payment account to aholding account that is separate from the recipient payment account(5104). The system can monitor, according to the policy, purchases ofthe recipient at a second time, which is later than the first time,using the recipient payment account to yield purchasing informationbased on the purchasing information (5106). The system can determinewhether the recipient has made a qualifying purchase using the recipientpayment account according to the policy (5108). If the qualifyingpurchase has occurred, the system can apply at least part of the amountof money to pay for the gift from the holding account to the recipientpayment account (5110).

In another variation, the system can generate a policy that governs theapplication of a discount at a merchant, and present an electronic giftcredit to a consumer at a first time, the electronic gift credit beingassociated with a policy. Upon receipt of a purchase of the electronicgift credit from the consumer, the system can activate the policy,wherein the consumer is associated with a consumer payment accountincluding a credit payment account or a debit payment account existingprior to the first time. The system can monitor, according to thepolicy, purchases at a second time, which is later than the first time,using the consumer payment account to yield purchasing information.Based on the purchasing information, the system can determine whetherthe consumer has made a qualifying purchase using the recipient paymentaccount at the merchant according to the policy, and if the qualifyingpurchase has occurred, apply a benefit associated with the qualifyingpurchase to the consumer.

The benefit can be a discount, a reimbursement of at least part of apurchase price, points, or a free item at the merchant, for example. Thepolicy can govern application of a respective discount for variousmerchants. The policy can be based on a purchasing history of theconsumer or on a scoring of points based on consumer activity. Themerchants associated with the policy can be chosen based on a purchasinghistory of the consumer. If the benefit is points, the system canfurther activate a second policy based at least in part on the points,the second policy being associated with a second merchant, and monitor,according to the second policy, purchases at a third time, which islater than the second time, using the consumer payment account to yieldsecond purchasing information. Then the system can, based on the secondpurchasing information, determine whether the consumer has made a secondqualifying purchase using the consumer payment account at the secondmerchant according to the second policy, and, if the second qualifyingpurchase has occurred, apply a second benefit associated with the secondqualifying purchase to the consumer. The second benefit can be adiscount or a reimbursement for the second qualifying purchase.

Network Fees for Processing Gifts

Payment processing networks, such as a merchant payment processingsystem, a payment aggregator, a credit card network, or a bank orcollection of banks, can process gifts and intercept transactions todetect qualifying transactions for a gift. These entities can processsuch transactions in exchange for a fee. For example, the additionalprocessing power and cost associated with transferring funds for a giftmay have an associated cost. Thus, the payment processing network mayrefuse to process such gifts without receiving a fee or somecompensation. The fees can be paid in advance of processing the gift,can be paid on a one-time basis, on a per-monitored-transaction basis,on a recurring basis as long as transactions are being monitored inassociation with the policy, and so forth. The exact amount of the fee,timing of payment of the fee, as well as which parties pay the fee canvary, as shown in the examples below.

In one example, a gift giver is creating a gift for a recipient. Afterselecting the recipient, amount, and other information for the policy,such as at a checkout stage in an online purchasing environment, thesystem can present the recipient with the amount of the processing fee.The processing fee can be a flat fee, based on the amount of the gift,or based on some other factors. The exact processing fee may not beknown, so the system can present a range of fees or an estimated oraverage fee. The giver can pay the fee up front as the gift and policyare created. Alternatively, the giver can indicate that the fee be paidout of the gift amount itself. The giver can pay the processing feebefore the gift is created, or afterwards such as upon detecting aqualifying transaction triggering application of the gift.

The processing fee can be split between multiple parties, so that thegiver pays a portion, the merchant pays a portion, the recipient pays aportion, and so forth. Particular merchants or payment processingnetworks can offer promotions or incentives to attract or drive businessinto particular patterns, such as one payment network offering reducedor eliminated fees to lure away customers from other payment networks.These promotions may include various conditions which must be triggeredto receive the reduced fee rate. Thus, in these cases, the entire feemay be withheld, reserved, or paid in advance, and when the conditionsare satisfied a portion is refunded. Alternatively, the system candetect the conditions and charge a reduced rate fee or nothing at all.

FIG. 52 illustrates a method embodiment for processing gift transactionsaccording to a policy. A system configured to practice this methodidentifies a policy governing a gift transaction from a gift giver to arecipient via a giver payment account and a recipient payment account(5202), and determines, for the policy, a processing fee and an entity,such as a payment processor or a payment processing network, to receivethe processing fee (5204). Then, upon receiving an indication that aqualifying purchase, under the policy, has been detected in monitoredpurchases made using the recipient payment account, the system can paythe processing fee to the entity from a gift amount, the giver account,the recipient account, or a merchant at which the qualifying purchasewas made (5206). When the entity is a payment processor, the entity canmonitor the purchases.

The processing fee can be fixed and established prior to the policy andcan optionally be incorporated in the policy itself, so that the systemcan extract parameters of the policy, and read the processing fee fromthose parameters. Alternatively, the amount of the processing fee canvary based on a set of rules, such as rules for changing the processingfee amount based on a merchant at which the qualifying purchase is made,a purchase amount of the qualifying purchase, a time of day, an amountof time elapsed since creation of the policy, a type of good or servicepurchased via the qualifying purchase, or status of at least one of thegiver or the recipient. In another variation, the system can present tothe giver creating a gift and an associated policy an indication of theprocessing fee. The giver can either provide approval of the processingfee in advance, pay the processing fee in advance, or indicate that theprocessing fee will be deducted from the gift amount.

In certain conditions, a merchant or other party can create promotionalconditions for reducing the processing fees of the payment processingnetwork. The system can identify those promotional conditions associatedwith the processing fee, and upon determining that the qualifyingpurchase satisfies the promotional conditions, refund or simply notcharge the processing fee.

Merchant Identification of the Transaction Using an Algorithm

When a recipient receives a gift for a giver-selected merchant, thesystem can identify when the recipient goes to a location of thatmerchant and makes a qualifying purchase under the policy to receive thegift via the recipient's payment account used to make the qualifyingpurchase. The transaction information received by the recipient'spayment account may only include limited information about the specificstore location where the purchase is made. This may make detection ofqualifying purchases under the policy difficult with certainty that thisthe merchant is indeed the merchant the giver intended.

The system can use an algorithm that includes selected data availableabout the purchase to increase the confidence that the transaction isfor the intended giver-selected merchant. This algorithm may includedata that is weighted differently and can include other available datato determine an accuracy store score for the transaction, or a certaintyscore that the merchant is what the giver intended and thus satisfiesthe gift policy. The system can collect and evaluate data such astransaction store data passed by the credit card processor includingcomplete or partial store names, address, zip or other information,transaction store data passed by the store merchant processor includingcomplete or partial cardholder names, address, zip or other information,geo tracking information about where the purchase was made, informationprovided by the recipient when using the gift, or any other availableinformation. Other sources of information can include social networks,financial tracking tools, communications between the giver andrecipient, and so forth. The system can weight each of these availabledata elements via an algorithm that determines the level of certaintyabout the transaction being for the merchant. If the certainty levelexceeds a threshold, then the system applies the gift amount to therecipient payment account to implement the gift.

Child Based Application

The disclosure next turns to the subject of the present claims. Theclaims in this application primarily cover the “child” based applicationof the principles disclosed herein. There are several aspects of theprinciples herein in which a child or other person who does not have adebit/credit account can give or receive a gift credit. In some cases,the person may have a debit/credit account, but wishes to keep thataccount separate from the gift for privacy, security, accounting, orother reasons. Assume that a 10-year-old child, Mason, does not have adebit/credit account. His grandmother wants to give him a $20 giftcredit for the Lego® store but has no means to accomplish that through a“recipient” payment account since Mason has no such account with whichto associate a gift policy. There are several possible solutions to thisdilemma. The first solution is to associate Mason with a third partysuch as a parent who has a payment account that can be used to processthe gift. Communications can exist between all parties to thetransaction to facilitate notices and information throughout theprocess.

Mason in this example does not have a debit/credit card account but hasaccess to devices, such as smart phones, tablet computing devices, ordesktop or laptop computers, through which Mason can receive emails,instagrams or other electronic communication. FIG. 53 illustrates theoverall system. FIG. 53 illustrates an example system embodiment of a“child” based application. A general system 5300 enables the giving of agift credit to a recipient who does not have a recipient paymentaccount. In this example, a giver Gwen has giver device 5302 which isused to initiate the process of giving the gift. The giver has a giverpayment account 5306 as is typically disclosed herein.

A giver interface 5304 provides the ability of Gwen to be able toprovide the basic information to process the gift. In this case, thegift is from Gwen, the recipient is Mason and the mechanism by which thegift is going to be redeemed is through Virginia's Visa account. Thestore at which the gift if given is a Lego® store and the amount is $50.Interface 5304 can be a general interface which of course can beutilized through an application on a hand-held device or a laptop ordesktop computer or any electronic device which enables a connection tothe processing service 5308 in the network. In one variation, interface5304 is a web interface which can be accessed on virtually anyweb-enabled device from any location. The structure of this gifttherefore has several implications. First, three people are involved:the giver Gwen, the recipient Mason, and a third party Virginia that hasa recipient payment account that will be used to redeem the gift. Thesystem may utilize social networking or family relationships or othermechanisms to interconnect recipients such as Mason with other thirdparty individuals that have recipient payment accounts. For example, ifVirginia is Mason's mother, then it makes sense for Mason to receive theinformation about the gift credit but that its redemption is through apayment account that is utilized by a separate individual. In onevariation, the giver indicates the third party. In another variation,the giver provides the gift to the recipient, after which the recipientselects the third party. In yet another variation, the giver selects therecipient, and the system analyzes the recipient's social network,familial, or other connections, or a gift redemption history for therecipient, to suggest a group of possible third parties to the giver.Then the giver can select one from the group of possible third parties.

Once the processing service 5308 has the necessary information, thevarious notices and policies can be set up in order to affect thetransfer of the gift. For example, Mason's device 5310 can receive anotification of the gift through an email, a text, a social networkingcommunication, or other notification. The notification can be somethinglike what is shown in window 5312 which states Mason: “Gwen has givenyou $50 at the Lego store.” Other instructions of course could beprovided such as: “this gift if redeemable through your mom's Visaaccount. Accordingly, let your mom know that when she spends $50 at theLego store that that money will be paid or reimbursed by Gwen.”

On a third party device, Virginia's device 5314, a notification could beprovided in a window 5316 which can provide such information as thefollowing: “Virginia: Gwen has given Mason a $50 Lego gift credit to beredeemed using your Visa account.” The recipient payment account 5318 ofcourse is associated with Virginia. In one variation, the systemnotifies the third party of the gift prior to notifying the recipient,and requests confirmation or acceptance from the third party. Forexample, if the third party is unwilling or unable to serve in that rolefor the recipient, the third party can reject the request, forcing thegiver, system, or recipient to select an alternate third party. Thesystem can wait to send the recipient a notification of the gift untilthe third party has been approved, or can notify the recipient of theselected third party and indicate that the third party has not yet beenconfirmed and may change. The recipient or the third party can establishpreferences or settings in advance for automatically confirming giftsfor particular recipient/third party combinations, such as a motherestablishing a setting to always approve requests to be a third partyfor any of her children.

Accordingly, in this case, the policy that the system establishes (forenabling the processing of this gift credit) would be similar to what isdisclosed herein with the addition of other notifications ofcommunications to Mason. For example, the policy would involveinitiating the monitoring of uses of the recipient payment account 5318to track for a purchase at a Lego store according to the policy. Once apurchase is made at the Lego store, then $50 is applied from a giverpayment account, a holding account, or some other mechanism to handlethe contribution from Gwen for that gift. Notifications of course can betimed or coordinated between Mason's device 5310, Virginia's device 5314and Gwen's device 5302 in order to make the gift giving experience moreenjoyable. For example, once a purchase is initiated at a Lego storeaccording to the recipient payment account 5318, a FaceTimeTM or visualcommunication session could be established between Gwen's device 5302and Mason's device 5310 such that Gwen can personally view Mason at theLego store while a purchase is being made. Any type of communicationsuch as text, email, teleconference (such as between any of the 3devices) and so forth could be initiated based on the qualifyingpurchase from the recipient payment account 5318. Furthermore, inconnection with the policy, location-based services could also be usedto initiate a social networking communication between the parties inthis case. For example, the policy could not only affect monitoringpurchases made by the recipient payment account but also monitor thelocation of at least one of the parties to initiate communications. Inthis case, if Mason and Virginia were to go into a Lego store and thelocation based tracking of Mason's device indicated that he was in thevicinity or within a Lego store, then the processing service 5318 couldinitiate a communication between Gwen's device 5302 and Mason's device5310 such that they could communicate (in any manner) and talk or textabout Legos even before the initiation of a purchase made by therecipient payment account. In this case, since this particularembodiment may typically focus on giving gifts to children, the giver orother parties could also participate in the choosing of which Lego setMason desires prior to its purchase.

In addition, any party to this transaction could also add other partiesso that other people can join in to the discussion and the socialexperience, for example, if other cousins or brothers or sisters oraunts or uncles need to be part of the conversation, the system couldinclude a group of individuals that are associated with this gift suchthat a triggering event, such as a location position of a device, theinitiation of a purchase by the recipient payment account, and so forth,could initiate a multi-person video conferencing call or audioconference or group text or email to initiate communication by a numberof people. Therefore, as Mason enters a Lego store, it is possiblewithin this system to initiate a call in which Mason answers his phone5310 and 5 people are on the call congratulating him on redeeming thegift and having a Happy Birthday. Thus, the system disclosed in FIG. 53can be utilized for not only enabling a financial transaction betweenthree people but could also be utilized to initiate social networkingexperiences. The social networking experience can be extended into agame or treasure hunt, as well. The giver, Gwen, can record audio, text,or video messages for Mason, and tag them to specific locations, so thatwhen Mason and Virginia are both in those locations in the store,Mason's device or Virginia's device can automatically play the recordedaudio, text, or video message. For example, Gwen can make a videorecording and associate it with a particular location, store, or itemwithin a store, such as a Lego Death Star. Then, when Mason comes within10 feet of the Lego Death Star, or lingers for more than 30 secondswithin a certain distance of the Lego Death Star, or meets some otherlocation or proximity criteria, Mason's device can automatically playthe video recording, in which Gwen may comment on the particular item orgive advice to Mason.

In another social aspect of shopping online to redeem a gift, Mason andVirginia may be browsing a merchant website, and the system canbroadcast screen captures of their device to Gwen or to other parties.The system can also record audio or video of Mason and Virginia as theybrowse the merchant website, so Gwen or the other parties can see thefacial expressions and hear the discussions of Mason and Virginia asthey are shopping online.

As with the other policies disclosed herein, if the purchase made isless than $50 and an unused portion of the gift, or unused money,remains on the account, then the system could provide reminders,additional bonuses, added value, and so forth via emails ornotifications to Mason's device 5310, Virginia's device 5314 and/orGwen's device 5302. These can also be tailored to be individualnotifications as might be desired. For example, within a month after thepurchase which left $15 on the gift, Mason may only receive a reminderof that amount with information about a new Lego set that is nowavailable for that amount or slightly more with the offer that the Legostore will pitch in the extra $5 to buy a $20 set and to simply let hismom know that if she uses her payment account to make the purchase, thenthe additional $5 will be offered.

An example method is shown in FIG. 54 which includes receiving anidentification of a gift giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay forthe gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time, wherein the giveris associated with a giver payment account, including a credit paymentaccount or a debit payment account existing prior to the first time(5402). The recipient is associated with a third party who has a thirdparty payment account, which is a credit payment account or a debitpayment account existing prior to the first time. The giver paymentaccount and the third party payment account are independent of eachother and have no control over each other (5404). The system associatesa policy with the gift, wherein the policy is at least in part giverdefined and monitors, according to the policy, purchases of the thirdparty at a second time, which is later than the first time, using thethird party payment account to yield purchasing information (5406).Based on the purchasing information, the system determines whether thethird party has made a qualifying purchase using the third party paymentaccount according to the policy (5408) and, if the qualifying purchasehas occurred, applies at least part of the amount of money to pay forthe gift for the recipient to the third party payment account (5410).

In one aspect, the method includes initiating, at the first time, atransfer of at least part of the amount of money to pay for the giftfrom the giver payment account to a holding account that is separatefrom the third party payment account, wherein applying at least part ofthe amount of money to pay for the gift for the recipient to the thirdparty payment account includes transferring the at least part of theamount of money from the holding account to the third party paymentaccount. The gift can be associated with a group of third party paymentaccounts. In the example of a child recipient, the group of third partypayment accounts can include a mother's payment account, a father'spayment account, and an older brother's payment account, optionallysubject to approval by one of the mother or the father so that the olderbrother does not accidentally or unintentionally redeem the gift withoutthe recipient being present. In another aspect, the money for the giftremains in the giver account until a triggering even such as alocation-based event or a purchase is initiated, or a purchase iscompleted. Various communications can also be initiated by virtue oftriggering events associated with the policy. In other words, the policyin this case can include people and various triggers (like a locationbased trigger for the recipient device which causes the initiation of asocial networking or conference communication).

In connection with the processing of a gift to a recipient that does nothave a recipient payment account, another aspect of this disclosure isthat ability of such a recipient to be able to trade or makemodifications to their gift. As disclosed herein, there are a number ofmechanisms by which recipients can re-gift, add to, top up, chop up, andso forth their gifts. All of these capabilities would be available to arecipient 5310 of a gift in which that recipient does not have aparticular payment account. In each case, that recipient would be ableto have those gifts redeemed using a separate recipient payment account5318. In addition, however, the recipient 5310 or the third party 5314might also be able to further modify the policy and processing of thegift.

For example, shown in FIG. 53 is another person, Dad 5320 that has a dadpayment account 5322. Assume that Mason happens to be shopping with hisdad at the mall and they see the Lego store and desire to redeem theaccount. A mechanism could be provided in which Mason is associated witha number of recipient accounts which are modifiable according toguidelines or restrictions. For example, Mason may receive a gift creditthat is redeemable through Virginia's payment account 5318 but he mayhave the opportunity or ability to also redeem all or part of the giftthrough dad's payment account 5322. In this case, Mason could use hisdevice 5310 to communicate with the processing service 5318 and utilizea gift management application to select a different recipient paymentaccount for use in redeeming his gift. Restrictions could be placed onthis such as only a part of the gift can be redeemed through paymentaccount 5322. For example, Mason may only be able to have half of thatgift redeemed through his dad's payment account 5322 or no restrictionsmay apply at all. Of course, the system can also send notifications tothe various devices if such changes occur and perhaps need to beapproved by Virginia.

In such a case, the appropriate modifications could be made such thatthe policy now monitors purchases using the dad payment account 5322 atwhich point if Mason and his dad are at the Lego store, and the dadmakes a purchase using the dad payment account 5322, that theappropriate amount of money is applied to that gift and it is thus inpart or fully redeemed. Such changes can be made retroactively to applyto already completed purchases as well as processing and monitoringcurrent purchases.

In addition, as noted above, Mason could engage in an application inwhich he could trade his gift money from one account to another. Forexample, he could change his $50 Lego gift credit to an iTunes $50 giftcredit if that is authorized by the system. Furthermore, he may want totrade his $50 gift credit with a friend or a sibling who has a $60iTunes card from Gwen. Such trades could also be envisioned through thissystem between children in which they enter into an environment in whichthey can make offers and counteroffers and trade their gift creditsamongst others at which point the various changes would be made oncedeals are established. For example, if Mason trades a $50 Lego giftcredit for a $60 iTunes card, then the policy associated with Mason'sgift would therefore change such that the policy then would involve $60and the merchant would be the iTunes store and purchases at the iTunesstore would be monitored through the recipient payment account 5318. Ascan be seen, this mechanism enables children or anybody without arecipient payment account to be associated with people who have paymentaccounts and enable them to receive, manage, trade, modify and so forthgifts received in a way that is fun and easy and in a way thatencourages social interaction and increases purchases made atparticipating merchants.

A secondary aspect of the “child” based gift credit is to have a creditwaiting at a store once the child receives a notification of the giftcredit electronically. When the child identifies themselves at thestore, the credit can be applied. For example, returning to FIG. 53, ifGwen 5302 gives Mason a $50 gift credit at the Lego store, then theremay be a number of different mechanisms for Mason to be able to identifyhimself at the store. One example is that Mason's device 5310 has alocation-based system in which when he walks into the store, anapplication is initiated, or a notification is sent such that theidentification can be made. For example, a merchant system can notify aclerk at the store that Mason is in the store and has a $50 gift credit.This ability to provide such a notification can be done through a mobiledevice such that it becomes easy and enjoyable for Mason to be in thestore. In other words, Mason can walk in the store, the clerk canreceive the notification and then simply say “Hi Mason, are you here toredeem your $50 gift credit?” Then, the credit can be essentiallyalready applied for the purchase. The $50 amount could have beenwithdrawn from the giver's payment account 5306 and kept in a holdingaccount or already applied to the store such that no credit or debitcard or cash needs to be even processed as part of a financialtransaction. Further, if a $55 dollar Lego set is purchased, then theremaining amount only need to be paid to complete the entiretransaction. The notification from the processing service 5308 toMason's device 5310 of course can be modified to simply say “Gwen hasgiven you a $50 gift credit to the Lego store. Simply bring your iPhoneto the store and the store will be notified that you are there and helpyou redeem your gift. Enjoy!” This can provide a simple mechanism for achild to redeem the gift independent of a third party payment account.This approach can include some additional identity verification, such asa photo of the recipient, a secret password, or PIN transmitted toMason, so that the store can attempt to confirm that Mason is bearingthe iPhone. This approach can prevent a malicious sibling or other partyfrom bringing Mason's iPhone to the store to redeem a gift intended forMason.

In one aspect, the giver 5302 can choose the method of redemption, i.e.,the giver can establish the policy which is going to cover theredemption of that gift. The policy could be to redeem the gift at thestore by the recipient. The policy could include redeeming the gift byuse of one or more recipient payment accounts. The processing service5308 can have that various information already pre-established for theparticular recipient. Therefore, when Gwen chooses Mason as therecipient, then the system can already have configured the variouspossible ways in which Mason can be given the opportunity to redeem thatgift. Therefore, Gwen can choose amongst those possibilities informulating and structuring the gift for the recipient. In this way too,the giver, who likely know the recipient very well, could tailor theredemption of the gift in a manner which is most beneficial perhaps tothe recipient. For example, if Gwen knows that Mason needs to spend sometime with his dad, then she can structure the giving of the gift suchthat it has to be done through dad's payment account 5322 without theability or the flexibility of changing which payment account is to beutilized for the redemption of that gift. Therefore, such a structurecan be used to improve a family interaction and enable enjoyable familyinteractions. In another variation, Gwen can impose other limitations onthe gift, such as a multiple transaction requirement, so that Mason andhis dad must make at least two separate trips to the Lego store on twoseparate days prior to making the purchase to redeem the entire amountof the gift credit.

A third aspect is to have the credit loaded associated with a giftcredit onto an application or an account that is released when a mobiledevice is within a Geo fence of a retail location associated with thepolicy. The mobile device or an application can be interacted with bythe retailer such as via a scan or another means and the credit is usedfor a purchase according to the policy. Thus, for example, in this thirdaspect, the mobile device 5310, when it enters into the geo fence of theretail location, could automatically generate a QR code or a barcodethat a retail clerk could scan or receive via other means which can beused to purchase the product. In other words, the money that isassociated with the gift could be loaded into a separate gift creditaccount which is then associated with that QR code or symbol at whichpoint at the retail store. The recipient, Mason in this example,utilizes the device 5310 to actually make the purchase as though he hada physical gift card. Once that purchase is made, it would be processedin a similar way to having received a closed loop physical gift card forthat Lego store.

Of course in this process, the giver Gwen could also structure a gift tothe recipient in such a way as to make the gift specific to a kind ofpurchase rather than a particular store. For example, Gwen may giveMason a $100 gift credit to go toward a bicycle at which point furtherinteractions may involve triggering an application when he enters into ageo fence of a retail location that sells bicycles and furthermoreinitiating a social interaction in which if a bicycle is actuallypurchased at that store (many other products are likely available aswell), then Gwen could approve of unlocking the gift credit at whichpoint the QR code or other code could be presented which is capable ofbeing used by the retail location in order to make the purchaser applythe gift credit to the purchase.

Similarly, the gift to Mason could include a $50 gift credit forgroceries at which point the geo location could be considered as anygrocery store at which point the system triggers or releases the moneyin the account and enables the recipient to utilize their mobile phonein order to actually accomplish a financial transaction in which thatmoney is available.

Accordingly, in this aspect of the disclosure, a holding account or agift credit account can be established but held and not released andavailable for use until a triggering event occurs in some mannerassociated with the recipient or recipient device. The triggering eventmay be multiple events such as the recipient going to several geolocations in a particular order that then would trigger the release andavailability of the funds. The funds may be held in the giver account.The release and availability of the funds in these cases occurselectronically such that an actual purchase can be made either in aclosed-loop or partial closed-loop case or even in an open-loop case.For example, the gift might be $100 once Mason spends 10 hours in thelibrary during the week studying. The system could then monitor usinglocation based services of the device to see if the conditions of thepolicy are established at which point the gift credit can be releasedand the money becomes available for use utilizing the mobile device5310. In another aspect, the processing service 5308 could monitor thetriggering events associated with the recipient device 5310 at whichpoint a physical gift card could be mailed out to the recipient so thatthey actually have a standard physical closed-loop or open-loop giftcard for use as they desire. For example, Gwen may desire to give Masona $100 gift credit for use at Disney Land if Mason is in class every dayat school for the month of April. If the geo location indicates thatMason has achieved the terms of the policy, then the systemautomatically mails out a Disney Land gift credit to Mason for use onhis trip during the summer. Gwen can set up a hierarchy of gifts so thatwhen the criteria for a first gift are met and the gift card is mailedout to Mason, the system automatically engages a second gift andnotifies Mason of the next requirements. In this way, the incentives canbe chained together so that earning one gift unlocks a next gift.

Accordingly, in this aspect, where the recipient does not have arecipient payment account that is to be used to redeem the gift card, ablending of an “in the cloud” solution with a physical solution can beimplemented to increase the enjoyment and benefits of gift cards isdisclosed herein.

Transactions Without Coordination of Credit Issuing Company

This disclosure now turns to the primary subject matter covered in theclaims. An example method embodiment is shown in FIG. 55 and includesreceiving an identification of a giver of a gift and a recipient of thegift at a first time, wherein the giver is associated with a giverpayment account and the recipient has a recipient number associated witha recipient device (5500). This number can be a phone number, picture,alphanumeric string of characters, or characters associated with therecipient device. In one example, the giver can choose a recipient byselecting their phone number, a dollar amount (say $50) and a merchant,such as Olive Garden. The system associates a policy with the gift inwhich the policy references and includes at least the merchant and theamount of money (5502). The system receives the amount of money from thegiver payment account and stores the amount of money in a holdingaccount (5504) and monitors, via a processor of a computing device, forinteractions between the recipient and the merchant. In one embodiment,the monitoring occurs via a geolocation of the recipient device using anapplication on the recipient device, at a second time which is laterthan the first time to yield information (5506). In one aspect thesystem does not withdraw the funds from the giver payment account butthe finds remain there and it becomes the holding account. Based on theinformation, and when the information indicates that the recipientdevice is at the merchant geolocation, the system requests aconfirmation from the recipient via the recipient device to determinewhether the recipient desires to use the gift at the merchant (5508).The “qualifying purchase” is thus made but monitored in a differentmanner than disclosed above in that it is not directly monitored basedon the use of a payment card. The interaction with the user and/or themerchant indicate that the qualifying purchase has occurred. The data onthe transaction can be reported from the merchant and not monitoredbased on credit card company or bank account transactions. In one case,the recipient may not have made a purchase or may not want to have thegift apply at that visit. The recipient can control whether the amountof money or a portion thereof is applied.

The system receives a confirmation that the recipient desires to use thegift at the merchant (5510) and receives from the merchant (or the useror other source) a confirmation of a transaction using a recipientpayment account that existed prior to the first time, wherein therecipient payment account is independent of the giver payment account(5512). The system then transfers or applies at least a portion of theamount of money from the holding account to redeem the gift (5516). Themoney could be transferred to a merchant account, wherein the merchantcredits the recipient payment account using the at least a portion ofthe amount of money. By way of the example above, the recipient may havespent $25 at the Olive Garden and confirms that they would like the giftcard to apply. The system would provide a payment of $25 to the OliveGarden or directly to the card company associated with the recipientpayment account. When the payment goes to the Olive Garden, then theycan automatically or manually credit the recipient payment account forthe amount of the gift used.

The processor can communicate with the recipient via an application on asmart phone. The application manages the communications such that when ageolocation connects with a policy, the system “pings” the applicationand a notification comes up for the user to notify the user of the giftand to inquire about whether the user would like to apply the gift. Thismoment provides an opportunity to interact with the user at this stagefor both the merchant and/or the gift credit processor. When therecipient accepts the gift via communication with a text message or viaan application or any other mechanism, the recipient may also agree toother terms such as providing permission to utilize the recipient'sname, address, contact information (email, phone number, twitteraccount, etc.) to accomplish the giving of the gift. If the recipientindicates via the interaction that they desire to use the gift at themerchant, the system can time stamp a record associated with the giftand then “ping” or communicate with the merchant at some point about thegift and seek confirmation of the transaction. If there is a match,i.e., the record shows that the recipient did purchase a $25 meal at theOlive Garden, then the gift can be redeemed as disclosed herein such asby the merchant crediting the card used by the recipient for thequalifying purchase. In this manner, other than a few interactions, therecipient still makes the purchase in their normal fashion. The actualflow of money could occur where $25 is directly deposited into therecipient payment account (whether associated with the card used for thepurchase or not) or the payment could transfer money to the merchant whothen credits the card of the recipient that was used in the transaction.Communications to the recipient can occur during this time, especiallyif the recipient needs to sign something to receive the credit. Anotherembodiment of the application would provide a user interface by whichthe recipient could interact with the system as the recipient decideshow to apply the gift. For example, through the application, therecipient links non-related accounts, which include but are not limitedto credit card accounts, utility accounts, telephone accounts, loanaccounts, online video streaming accounts, online music streamingaccounts, internet service provider accounts, cable or satellitetelevision accounts, and any account to which a recipient makes regularpayments. Via the user interface, the application displays thetransaction information. After the recipient, through the application,confirms that they are applying the gift to the transaction, theapplication presents to the recipient options for applying the gift. Therecipient could apply the money credited back directly to thetransaction through the merchant or the credit card issuing company aspreviously disclosed, or the application provides the options ofapplying the money to one of the non-related accounts or a combinationof the non-related accounts to which the recipient linked through theapplication. This provides the recipient an ability to pay other billswith the money credited back.

The application could further provide a method for prioritizing thenon-related accounts in a manner that would help the recipient tointelligently apply the gift to an account. This could include arrangingthem according to predetermined criteria. For example, the recipient isredeeming the $25 he spent at Olive Garden and the application isprompting the user with the different options for applying the $25credit. The recipient previously linked his credit card account, Netflixaccount, and Verizon account to the application. The application, basedon an algorithm, arranges the accounts according to priority. Thecriteria for priority include but are not limited to payment due dates,interest rates, amount due, etc. In this example, the recipient has apayment due on his Verizon account whereas his other accounts are notdue for another week, so the application suggests paying into theVerizon account. The recipient then chooses the account or accounts towhich he would like to apply the $25 credit. The system then transfers$25 from the holding account to the user-specified account or accounts.

Another service the application can provide includes a list of eachgift, the merchant with which the gift is associated, and the amount ofmoney or a remainder amount, which amount will be further disclosed inensuing paragraphs. With this list, the application could then integrateinformation from the merchants into the list of the gifts, merchants,and amount of money. Such information includes but is not limited tocurrent promotions, daily specials, and events. For example, therecipient has a remainder amount of $25 from a gift to Olive Garden. Theapplication can display information next to the gift associated withOlive Garden that Olive Garden currently is holding a promotional offerof two entrees for the price of one. This allows the recipient to accessthe application in order to see a comprehensive list of all the giftsand special offers that are currently relevant to the recipient. In allembodiments of the application specified, the application is not limitedto an application on a cell phone, but could be an application on a cellphone, tablet, personal computer, or could be a web-based application orcommunicated via text or email.

In the event that the recipient device is not capable of being monitoredfor a geolocation or the recipient opts out of using the application onthe recipient device through which a geolocation is monitored, thesystem “pings” or communicates with the merchant on a periodic basisrequesting a name, an address, and a transaction with which therecipient is associated. If the merchant finds a transaction associatedwith one of the name and the address, the system then sends a textmessage or email to the recipient to confirm the transaction as well asto inquire about whether they would like to apply the gift to thetransaction. Once the recipient has confirmed that they would like toapply the gift to the transaction, the system proceeds to credit theaccounts in the manner disclosed previously.

Other aspects of this embodiment include the following. The system canapply at least a portion of the amount of money by transferring at leasta portion of the amount of money from the holding account to a merchantaccount or other account such as directly to the recipient account. Themerchant if they receive the transfer, can credit the recipient paymentaccount using the at least a portion of the amount of money from themerchant account. The at least a portion of the amount of money can beless than the amount of money to yield a remainder amount. If so, thenas disclosed above, the remainder amount can be maintained ortransferred immediately or after a period of time to any one of thegiver payment account, the recipient payment account, or anotheraccount. The remainder can be split between several accounts as wellaccording to the policy. A transfer fee could be extracted from theremainder amount before transferring the at least part of the remainderamount. The transfer fee can be one of a flat fee and a percentage ofthe remainder amount. The transfer fee can be based on an amount of timeoccurring between a qualifying purchase by the recipient andtransferring the at least part of the remainder amount.

The at least a portion of the amount of money can be less than theamount of money to yield a remainder amount, in which case the methodfurther can include transferring the remainder amount from the holdingaccount to one of the giver payment account and the recipient paymentaccount. Transferring of the remainder amount can occur if no additionalqualifying purchase occurs after a predetermined amount of time haspassed since a qualifying purchase. The giver can specify in the policyor elsewhere the predetermined amount of time.

Before transferring the at least part of the remainder amount, themethod can include transmitting an offer to the recipient, inassociation with the qualifying purchase, to apply the remainder amountto the recipient payment account for a fee, receiving from the recipientan acceptance of the offer and charging the fee to the recipient paymentaccount. The system, according to the policy, can also notify therecipient of the amount of money or the remainder amount of money in theaccount after a predetermined time-period has passed. This helps toinform the recipient of the funds that are available to use at thevarious merchants. For example, the policy could specify that the systemwill notify the user of the gift if after two months the $25 gift toOlive Garden sits in the holding account untouched. The policy couldalso specify that the system will continue to notify the user of thegift on a periodic basis until the recipient redeems the gift or theremainder amount. The notifications can be in the form of a textmessage, a notification via an application on a smart phone, or anemail.

Automatic Identification of Giver Groups

A group of friends may be in a group setting and which to eachcontribute a portion to a shared gift from one set of the group toanother an individual or other group of individuals in the group.Several examples and variations are discussed to illustrate theseprinciples. These examples assume that everybody in the group isenrolled in a gift system, such as by signing up for an app andproviding their credit/debit card information. An account with the giftsystem can then store this information in respective user accounts. Thesystem can automatically look at social groups, based on ‘friend’relationships on a social network, email communications, or otherindication of a social group, and location data reported by people inthe social groups. For example, a group of 5 friends have smartphonesand can download and install a gift app. Instead of smartphones, thefriends may have any other suitable device for reporting location datato the gift system, whether through an app, a service, daemon, web page,or other mechanism. If some of the friends do not have the appbeforehand, they can install the app and enroll, register, or create anaccount with the gift system on the spot. Part of enrollment can includelinking one or more social network profiles. Then the gift system cantap into social network profiles and look at friends or socialconnections to determine if they are also signed up with the giftsystem.

Then, if you go to dinner with 5 friends, each friend's phone or appreports a location to the gift system, which can identify and pre-createa group based on location-based services and the social networking data.Thus, while the 5 friends are sitting down to eat dinner at arestaurant, each of the friends has their smartphone or respectivedevices. If one of the friends opens up the dinner payment app, the giftsystem can automatically identify those friends at the table usinglocation-based services on the fly, or can retrieve the pre-createdgroup. The system can further incorporate a certainty threshold based onsimilar patterns of movement and inactivity, how long the group istogether at the same location, how physically close they are to eachother, calendar events, discussion of the dinner on social media, and soforth. The app can include a button for a user to indicate “I'm paying,”and can optionally provide further information such as a title of theevent, a password for others to join, pre-approve members of the group,send notifications, records, or receipts to the group, and so forth.Then the other friends open the app on their corresponding devices toindicate that they are contributing their portion to the payer. If Tomarrived first at the restaurant and indicated “I'm paying,” then asother people arrived or opened their app, the interface of the app canchange to provide them a description of the group, Tom's Olive Gardendinner. If Jane opens the app at dinner, the app can display “Tom'sOlive Garden group.” Jane can join the group and contribute to the mealby simply opening the app, which is be preconfigured or prepopulated forher to simply enter an amount for her portion of the meal. Everyone elsein the group can do likewise via the app to contribute their portion ofthe meal. In one variation, the payer can scan or snap a photograph ofthe receipt, which the gift system or the smartphone can perform opticalcharacter recognition and/or parse to identify specific items in thereceipt and their associated costs. In this way, a user does not have toenter an amount, but can simply identify which items he or she consumed,and can optionally enter a percentage of a single item, such as if twousers split a large order of fajitas.

In a busy restaurant, multiple potential social groups may exist towhich a user may belong. When the system is unsure of which group a usershould be associated with, the app can provide a menu or a foyer ofavailable groups, and prompt the user to select one to join. The menucan provide information such as a time, name, who is paying, who else isin the group, and so forth.

Further, the gift system and apps can provide an extra automatedinterface for specific events, such as a birthday of someone in thegroup. The system can automatically detect when someone in the group hasa birthday and either automatically switch to a birthday mode or promptone of the users, within the app or via an extra-app notification, aboutthe birthday. The birthday recognition can be applied on an exact day orwithin a window of days, such as one week before and one week after abirthday. When 5 friends go to a restaurant within one week or two weeksor within some temporal threshold of one of the friend's birthday, thegift system and/or the app can automatically adjust. For example, theapp can present an option based on an assumption or prediction thateverybody is there to celebrate this person's birthday and that thefriend having the birthday will not be paying. If Tom was paying for thebirthday lunch, the app can automatically title the group “Angie'sBirthday—Tom's paying” or some similar text indicating the birthdayrecipient and the paying party. Then, the apps on the devices of theother friends in the group can automatically display options to pay fora fourth of the total cost of the meal at the restaurant. In otherwords, 4 people would be splitting the meal for 5 people and they couldeach equally split the cost. In other variations, the 4 people can covertheir own meal and a quarter of the cost of the meal of the birthdayrecipient. These options can be established automatically based on userpreferences or can be established by the user paying for the meal, forexample. The interface can present that as well as an option whereeverybody is just paying independently.

The app interface can be very simple. The interface can allow people tohave the group preconfigured or potentially add somebody that is atdinner who is not automatically identified as part of the group, such asa user who does not have a smartphone or is not a member of the socialnetwork. The app interface can allow for searching for additionalparticipants or manually adding a participant who is not in the searchresults. For example, one of the friends already in the group, or thepayer/creator of the group, can add others to the group. If others arealready signed up, the app can locate and identify them very easily. Forexample, the app or the gift system can generate a PIN number for thefriends to enter to join the group. Then that person can use somebodyelse's smartphone to log in and enter a dollar amount or percentage tocontribute to the dinner.

Once the gift system receives all the data from the various apps,smartphones, or web interfaces, then the payer simply pays for the mealas usual, such as by giving his or her credit or debit card to thewaiter. The waiter can process the card normally. The gift system canestablish a policy where individual people in the group then have $25 or$30 or whatever amount or percentage they indicated automaticallycontributed to the payment via the payer's credit or debit card. Thepayer purchases the meal with his or her credit card, the systemidentifies that purchase for $100 , and can initiate a transfer of fundsin the appropriate amounts from each of the other participant's accountsto the payer's payment account. The money from each of these accountscan immediately be transferred out and placed into a holding account orthe money for each individual person at the table can remain in theirgiver account in this case until the payer pays. Then the systemmonitors the payer's account for the payment, and upon identification ofthe payment, can transfer money from all of the other accounts into myaccount. Alternatively, the gift system can intercept the purchase, suchthat only the payer's portion is paid from his account and all the otheraccounts pay the merchant directly.

The gift system can preconfigure the group for a specific meal so thatthe members of the group are predetermined, such as via an app and giftserver architecture. In one variation, one of the user devices serves asthe gift server without needing any additional infrastructure. Whenusers open the app, they can almost vie for the opportunity to actuallybe the one that handles the payment and they get reimbursed. One of thefriends can lock themselves in as the designated person to pay for themeal. Further, a user could even lock themselves in as the designatedpayer in advance, such as if they know they will be meeting for dinnertomorrow. One person can open the app and volunteer to pay prior to evenarriving at the restaurant. As a group is determined, the gift systemcan establish a social environment for determining who is going to pay.Alternatively, the social environment can assist in selecting peoplefrom a social network that are going. The social environment can evenblock the birthday person from viewing the group, participating in thegroup in advance (to keep it a surprise), or from contributing topayment via the app. In that case, the payer can open the app, identifythe group that is going to be at dinner, identify the person whosebirthday it is, and even send a message saying “Happy Birthday, dinneris on us” to the birthday person. Then, when that person opens the appthat night or in advance of the dinner, the birthday person sees thebirthday message and wouldn't have the opportunity to go in and helppay.

FIG. 56 illustrates a method embodiment for managing groups associatedwith a group payment transaction, and for splitting a transaction amongmultiple participants automatically based on social network or locationdata. A system configured to practice the method accesses socialnetworking data to identify a group of people, at a first time, who areassociated with a purchase at a second time which is later than thefirst time (5602). The system can identify the group of people based atleast in part on location, social network connection, calendar events,communication logs, or entry of a passcode to join a group, for example.The system can identify the group of people based on location dataindicating relative location to each other, which may or may not includeabsolute location data. The social networking data can identify a personof the group of people who does not have to contribute to the qualifyingpurchase according to the policy. The social networking data can furtheridentify at least one of a birthday, an anniversary or other specialevent for a person of the group of people.

The system identifies a respective payment account and a respectivepayment amount associated with each person of the group of people toyield respective payment accounts and respective payment amounts whereinthe respective payment accounts include a payer payment account andother payment accounts (5604). The system can receive, via anapplication or app on each person's wireless device, data associatedwith the policy for establishing part of the policy. For example, thedata can include a respective person's contribution to the qualifyingtransaction, an identification of a person to be part of the group ofpeople, and an identification of a person to be excluded from the group.

Then the system establishes a policy associated with the group of peopleand the respective payment accounts and respect payment amounts (5606).The policy can exclude at least one person of the group of people fromcontributing to the qualifying purchase, such as a person having abirthday who the rest of the group is treating to dinner. The systemmonitors purchases of a payer of the group of people for a qualifyingpurchase using the payer payment account and according to the policy(5608), and, upon detection of at least an initiation of the qualifyingpurchase using the payer payment account, manages automatically arespective contribution from at least one of the other payment accountsto pay for the qualifying purchase (5610). Managing respectivecontributions can include the payer payment account paying for an entireprice of the qualifying purchase in which the respective contributionsfrom each of the other payment accounts reimburse the payer paymentaccount for a portion of the entire price. In another variation, thesystem can intercept the payment of the qualifying purchase afterinitiation of the qualifying purchase using the payer payment account,and cause each of the payer payment account and at least one of theother payment accounts to pay a contribution amount to the qualifyingpurchase directly to a merchant account associated with the qualifyingpurchase.

Immersive Gifts and Gift Tracking

Three separate example embodiments are presented herein for enhancingelectronic delivery or redemption of gifts to provide a more immersiveexperience. Three examples are discussed herein in terms of the examplesmart glasses illustrated in FIG. 57 as part of an immersive giftenvironment 5700.

In this example, a recipient 5702 has a wearable electronic device 5704or other ‘intimate’ electronic devices, such as smart glasses, GoogleGlass, clothing with ‘smart’ components, or a watch. The recipientreceives an electronic gift from a gift giver through a gift processingserver 5706. The gift is governed by a policy that monitors transactionsof the recipient payment account 5710 for a qualifying transaction, andapplies funds to the qualifying transaction from the giver paymentaccount 5708. This arrangement can be modified to include various othersteps or possible ways of applying funds from the giver payment accountto the recipient payment account for the gift.

In the first embodiment, a gift giver of a gift can use the wearableelectronic device 5718 or some other device 5714, 5716 to view sampleelectronic greeting or gift credits. As the giver views the gift orgreeting card, the wearable electronic device 5704 can then show thegiver a video clip or present some other form of media that the giverwants to be displayed to the recipient 5702 when receiving the gift orgreeting card. This information can be sent to the gift interactionserver 5712, which governs when and how to deliver the video or othermedia to the recipient 5702. The recipient 5702 can then also view thevideo clip or other media when the gift or greeting card is received,upon satisfying some trigger condition such as a geofence or a specifictime of day, upon redemption, etc. In one embodiment, the recipient's5702 wearable electronic device 5704 can automatically present the videoor other media to the recipient 5702, or a server can push the contentto the recipient's 5702 wearable electronic device 5704. In one example,the gift interaction server 5712 can coordinate with multiple differentrecipient devices for a coordinated presentation, such as sending audioto a smart phone and corresponding video to smart glasses.

In a second embodiment, when a recipient 5702 of an electronic gift useshis or her wearable electronic device 5704 to view the productassociated with the policy governing the electronic gift, the wearableelectronic device 5704 can play a message for the recipient 5702 eitherby itself or according to instructions received from the giftinteraction server 5712. For example, the giver buys the recipient 5702an electronic gift for a watch that is redeemable when the recipient5702 simply purchases the watch via an associated recipient paymentaccount 5710. The wearable electronic device 5704 can store the messageand conditions for triggering the message. Then, as the wearableelectronic device 5704 monitors its various sensors and inputs, if theconditions are satisfied the wearable electronic device 5704 can presentthe message to the recipient without receiving any additionalinstructions, and can even present the message when no networkconnection is available. Once the recipient 5702 views the watch, entersthe watch aisle at the store, views an advertisement for the watch, orencounters some other trigger associated with the watch, as detected bythe wearable electronic device 5704 or an associated sensor or inputsignal, the wearable electronic device 5704 can display to the recipient5702 a video clip or other media from the giver. The video or othermedia can be a recording of the giver or can be selected from a set ofalready recorded messages, for example.

In a third embodiment, when a recipient 5702 of an electronic giftenters the location of a merchant according to the policy governing theelectronic gift, a wearable electronic device 5704 can detect thelocation of the recipient 5702. Based on the location coinciding withthe merchant, the wearable electronic device 5704 can then play a mediaclip for the recipient 5702 from the giver. For example, the giver buysthe recipient 5702 an electronic gift for the spa. The gift systemassociates the recipient 5702 and the recipient's 5702 payment accountwith the electronic gift. Then, once the recipient 5702 enters the spa,the wearable electronic device 5704, such as smart glasses, can initiatea video clip that is attached to the electronic gift that the givercreated.

These same concepts can be adapted for other electronic devices besidessmart glasses, such as smart phones, watches, implanted devices, and soforth. This approach can provide an augmented reality environmentsurrounding, supporting, describing, and notifying the recipient 5702 ofdetails of the electronic gift.

In one variation, instead of or in addition to triggering delivery of avideo or other media, triggering a certain condition associated with thegift can initiate some other activity, such as starting a videorecording on smart glasses. For example, if the recipient 5702 entersthe watch aisle at the store, thereby activating a trigger, therecipient's 5702 Google Glass can automatically begin recording video ofwhen the recipient 5702 first sees the watch, and his or her reactionthereto, the decision process, and so forth. This video can be recordedand saved for later viewing, or can be immediately broadcast to devices5714, 5716, 5718 of the giver or other parties designated by the giveror the recipient 5702. In one example, the recipient can agree to submitthe video to the watch manufacturer, the merchant, or the electronicgift processing entity via the gift interaction server 5712 for use inpromotional or advertising purposes in exchange for a larger gift amountor as part of an entry into a contest. The video of the moments leadingup to the purchase can be edited by the recipient 5702 prior tobroadcasting or posting the video for others to see on a website orsocial network.

Having disclosed some basic system components and concepts, thedisclosure now turns to the exemplary method embodiment shown in FIG.58. For the sake of clarity, the methods are discussed in terms of anexemplary system configured to practice the methods. The steps outlinedherein are exemplary and can be implemented in any combination or orderthereof, including combinations that exclude, add, or modify certainsteps. A first example method embodiment includes receiving anindication that a gift giver has given a gift credit to a recipient foruse at a merchant (5802), receiving a media from the giver (5804), and,upon confirmation from the recipient, presenting the media on a deviceof the recipient (5806). The device can be part of glasses worn by therecipient. A second example embodiment includes receiving an indicationthat a gift giver has given a gift credit associated with a merchant toa recipient, presenting on a device associated with the recipientinformation about a gift associated with the gift credit, and followingthe presenting of the information, presenting a media event created bythe giver. A third example embodiment includes receiving an indicationthat a gift giver has given a recipient a gift credit at a merchant,monitoring a location of a device associated with the recipient, and,when the device is at a merchant location associated with the merchant,presenting a media clip associated with the buyer on the device.

Wearable or other devices can be used to track which gifts were receivedfrom which givers. For example, when a recipient redeems a gift bymaking a qualifying purchase under a policy using his or her recipientpayment account, the system can track that transaction and flag the itempurchased. The system can associate the giver with that item. Then, therecipient can later query the system, such as by looking at the item viaa wearable computing device, to which the system can respond bydisplaying the giver, the date of the gift, the gift amount, the giftoccasion, any notes from the giver, and any other available metadatadescribing the gift. The system can also display this information via anonline portal or a database on a smartphone app, for example. This canallow the recipient to easily recall which gifts came from whom. Thesystem can also track the location of the items, such as usingsurveillance camera feeds, or smartphone cameras, or otherlocation-providing data sources. The system can provide a summary of allgifts in a particular room or at a particular address, for example.

Another embodiment, which is incorporated herein by reference from apriority case (application Ser. No. 13/754,401), and from which moreinformation is found in the parent case, relates to converting valuefrom one form of currency or media to another. Note FIGS. 32-36 inapplication Ser. No. 13/754,401. Disclosed are systems, methods, andnon-transitory computer-readable storage media for converting gifts fromone exchange medium to another exchange medium. A system implementingthis method receives a request to convert a first gift amount associatedwith a first recipient account and a first policy from a first medium ofexchange to a second medium of exchange. The first policy can indicatewhen a first qualifying transaction using the first recipient accordingto the first medium of exchange account would trigger application of thefirst gift amount to the first qualifying transaction. The systemidentifies a second recipient account associated with the second mediumof exchange, and converts the first gift amount from the first medium ofexchange to the second medium of exchange to yield a second gift amount.Then the system can adapt the first policy to a second policy associatedwith the second gift amount and the second medium of exchange, whereinthe second policy indicates when a second qualifying transaction usingthe second recipient account according to the second medium of exchangewould trigger application of the second gift amount to the secondqualifying transaction. In one example, a gift giver provides value tofund a gift not using money, but instead using frequent flyer miles orsome other non-currency based value storage medium. The giver providesthe frequent flyer miles to the system, which debits the frequent flyermiles from the giver account, and uses that value to create a gift thatis currency based and the associated policy governing the gift.

Also disclosed herein is another exemplary method embodiment forcreating a gift in one medium of exchange from stored value in anothermedium of exchange. A system implementing an example method embodimentaccesses a first account representing stored value in a first medium ofexchange, and an amount of the stored value from the first medium ofexchange is user selected or system selected. Then the system convertsthe amount of the stored value to a second medium of exchange to yield aconverted amount, and the system or the user can give the convertedamount in the second medium of exchange to a recipient as a gift,wherein the gift is associated with a recipient account for the secondmedium of exchange, and wherein the gift is associated with a policymonitoring transactions made using the recipient account such that theconverted amount is applied to a transaction satisfying conditions ofthe policy. As an example of this scenario, a gift giver creates a giftand funds the gift with frequent flyer miles or some other non-currencybased medium of exchange. The gift is funded using a differentnon-currency medium of exchange, such as gas points. The gift can havean associated policy governing the gift and its use, such as indicatinga recipient account and conditions which a transaction must satisfy totrigger application of the gift. So the giver funds a gift usingfrequent flyer miles to create a gift and policy for a recipient to usewith the recipient's gas point account under specific conditions.

Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure may also includetangible and/or non-transitory computer-readable storage media forcarrying or having computer-executable instructions or data structuresstored thereon. Such non-transitory computer-readable storage media canbe any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose orspecial purpose computer, including the functional design of any specialpurpose processor as discussed above. By way of example, and notlimitation, such non-transitory computer-readable media can include RAM,ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storageor other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be usedto carry or store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, or processor chipdesign. When information is transferred or provided over a network oranother communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, orcombination thereof) to a computer, the computer properly views theconnection as a computer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. Combinations of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of the computer-readable media.

Computer-executable instructions include, for example, instructions anddata that cause a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, orspecial purpose processing device to perform a certain function or groupof functions. Computer-executable instructions also include programmodules that are executed by computers in stand-alone or networkenvironments. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,components, data structures, objects, and the functions inherent in thedesign of special-purpose processors, etc. that perform particular tasksor implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of the program code means for executing steps of the methodsdisclosed herein. The particular sequence of executable instructions orassociated data structures represents examples of corresponding actsimplementing the functions described in the steps.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other embodiments of thedisclosure may be practiced in network computing environments with manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. Embodiments may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by localand remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwiredlinks, wireless links, or a combination thereof) through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, programmodules can reside in local and/or remote memory storage devices.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the scope of thedisclosure. For example, the principles herein are applicable to giftcredits, virtual gift cards, gifts,associated with any type of paymentmode, including cash, checks, credit cards, debit cards, loyalty cards,and so forth. The principles herein can be applied to any gift credit,gift card, gift or benefit that can be redeemed by using a paymentmechanism to make a purchase in the normal fashion without the recipientusing a separate physical card or entering a code. Any functiondisclosed herein in connection with one embodiment can be blended orincorporated into another embodiment. Given generally that redemption ofa gift credit, gift card, gift or benefit is managed by a policy, anypolicy features discussed above can be blended to provide new policies,although such new policy is not specifically set forth in a singlediscussion of any embodiment. Those skilled in the art will readilyrecognize various modifications and changes that may be made to theprinciples described herein without following the example embodimentsand applications illustrated and described herein, and without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

We claim:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, via the Internet, aregistration of a recipient payment account at a service provider, therecipient payment account being associated with a recipient; receiving,from an entity, an identification of the recipient and a spendingcategory, the recipient payment account being registered with theservice provider prior to the receiving of the identification;generating, via the service provider, a policy comprising a gift creditand the spending category, wherein the policy is at least in partdefined by the entity and wherein the policy is linked to the recipientpayment account; transmitting, via a processor of a computing device andvia a wireless communication channel, an electronic notice to arecipient device, the electronic notice referencing the policy and beinglinked to the recipient payment account; monitoring, via a processor ofa computing device, purchasing transactions made using the recipientpayment account via a payment processing system for a qualified purchaseaccording to the policy; and based on the qualified purchase, applying,via a processor of a computing device, the gift credit.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the recipient payment account is one of a debitaccount, a financial account, and a credit account.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the entity comprises one of a business entity and aperson.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the spending categorycomprises at least one of a network merchant identification or a networkmerchant category.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving an initial amount of money from an entity account associatedwith the entity into a service provider account, wherein the gift creditis drawn from the initial amount of money.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the gift credit is transferred to the recipient payment accountand is determined by comparing an initial amount of money received fromthe entity to a purchase amount associated with the qualified purchase.7. The method of claim 6, wherein if the purchase amount is less thanthe initial amount of money, then the gift credit transferred to therecipient payment account is a full amount of the qualified purchase,and wherein if the purchase amount is more than the initial amount ofmoney, then the gift credit transferred is the initial amount of money.8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: charging the recipientpayment account for the qualified purchase; and reimbursing therecipient payment account when the qualified purchase appears on atransaction history of the recipient payment account.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: charging a percentage of an initial amountof money provided by the entity as a service fee for using the serviceprovider.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein one of the entity, therecipient and a third party is charged the percentage of the initialamount of money.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the spendingcategory comprises one of an individual point of sale, a chain ofstores, and a plurality of businesses in a same industry.
 12. The methodof claim 1, wherein a third party pays at least a portion of an initialamount of money which funds the gift credit.
 13. A system comprising: aprocessor of a computer device; and a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium storing instructions which, when executed by theprocessor of the computing device, cause the processor to performoperations comprising: receiving, via the Internet, a registration of arecipient payment account at a service provider, the recipient paymentaccount being associated with a recipient; receiving, from an entity, anidentification of the recipient and a spending category, the recipientpayment account being registered with the service provider prior to thereceiving of the identification; generating, via the service provider, apolicy comprising a gift credit and the spending category, wherein thepolicy is at least in part defined by the entity and wherein the policyis linked to the recipient payment account; transmitting, via acommunication channel, an electronic notice to a recipient device, theelectronic notice referencing the policy and being linked to therecipient payment account; monitoring purchasing transactions made usingthe recipient payment account via a payment processing system for aqualified purchase according to the policy; and based on the qualifiedpurchase, applying the gift credit.
 14. The system of claim 13, whereinthe recipient payment account is one of a debit account, a financialaccount, and a credit account.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein theentity comprises one of a business entity and a person.
 16. The systemof claim 13, wherein the spending category comprises at least one of anetwork merchant identification or a network merchant category.
 17. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium stores further instructions which, when executed by the processorof the computing device, cause the processor of the computing device toperform operations further comprising: receiving an initial amount ofmoney from an entity account associated with the entity into a serviceprovider account, wherein the gift credit is drawn from the initialamount of money.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein if the gift creditis less than the initial amount of money, then the gift credittransferred to the recipient payment account is a full amount of thequalified purchase, and wherein if the gift credit is more than theinitial amount of money, then the gift credit transferred is the initialamount of money.
 19. The system of claim 13, wherein the non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium stores further instructions which, whenexecuted by the processor of the computing device, cause the processorof the computing device to perform operations further comprising:charging the recipient payment account for the qualified purchase; andreimbursing the recipient payment account when the qualified purchaseappears on a transaction history of the recipient payment account.
 20. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructionswhich, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause theprocessor of the computing device to perform operations comprising:receiving, via the Internet, a registration of a recipient paymentaccount at a service provider, the recipient payment account beingassociated with a recipient; receiving, from an entity, anidentification of the recipient and a spending category, the recipientpayment account being registered with the service provider prior to thereceiving of the identification; generating, via the service provider, apolicy comprising a gift credit and the spending category, wherein thepolicy is at least in part defined by the entity and wherein the policyis linked to the recipient payment account; transmitting, via acommunication channel, an electronic notice to a recipient device, theelectronic notice referencing the policy and being linked to therecipient payment account; monitoring purchasing transactions made usingthe recipient payment account via a payment processing system for aqualified purchase according to the policy; and based on the qualifiedpurchase, applying the gift credit.